To The Forest of Firefly Light
by Julia Lucrezia Hanazono
Summary: Firefly and Medley have always been great friends, sticking together like glue even though they're different. But then they get into a fight and Firefly storms off. Can Medley and other ponies find her and reconcile before it's too late? G1 MLP fan fic. COMPLETE!
1. A Good Day Gone Sour

Author's Note: Hello, everyone. I'm Firechick. This is my very first My Little Pony fan fiction (oddly enough, it's not FIM. Don't hurt me!). It's been a very long while since I wrote a fan fiction with canon characters, but this idea's been floating around in my head for quite a while, I felt I had to get it out and write this fan fic (and maybe a few others that will come afterward). I just thought I'd let you know, this is my first MLP fan fiction. I'll do my best to keep everyone in character. But seeing as though in this case, I'll be using characters that have either only appeared in specials but not the TV series or have never spoken or have never gotten an animated counterpart, I'll either be giving them personalities or giving them attributes that were not originally present so as to make them more interesting, likeable, and three-dimensional, since one-sidedness is often a problem in this day and age. Overall, I hope you all enjoy this MLP fan fiction that uses G1 ponies that never got the attention they deserved. I apologize if things are wrong. If there are any errors or things about my fan fic that bother you, feel free to PM me.

Characters I will use for this fan fic:

1. Firefly - a born dare-devil, Firefly loves to zip through the sky and perform all sorts of tricks, though truth be told, she's quite cocky and over-confident, and doesn't always listen. She tends to get into trouble a lot and often loses her patience with other ponies, but when she can be, she can learn from her mistakes and fix them. She can also be kind and sensitive when she feels she needs to be.

2. Medley - Firefly's childhood best friend. Calm, gentle, sensible, and kind, Medley always thinks before she acts and always tries to keep Firefly out of trouble, though her attempts don't always go well. She loves playing the flute and hanging out with her friends, though she does have some minor control issues. But at times, she can also be a bit shy and not too keen on doing things in front of others.

3. Moondancer - a mellow, fun-loving, free spirit who strives to become a sorceress. She does, however, hate customs and having expectations thrown on her, believing firmly in freedom and individuality. If you cross her, she will fight back, and she won't show any mercy. But she does love animals, reading, and performing magic. She has two older sisters, Glory and Majesty.

4. Glory - Moondancer's older sister. She is very regal, graceful, and sophisticated, being the middle child of her family, but this doesn't mean she doesn't have a fun-loving side. She loves roller skating and performing magic, though she does try a bit too hard to keep up appearances. Like Medley, she tries to keep Moondancer out of trouble.

5. Twilight - a young pegasus and a social butterfly who loves going out and doing her favorite things, like flying, making jewelry and accessories, and cooking. She lives for brightening the days of sad ponies, though knows her limits. She is also very brave, not hesitating when faced with a challenge, though unlike Firefly, knows better than to just dive into them _**(Note: YES, there ****IS**** such thing as a pegasus named Twilight. Look up So Soft Twilight on My Little Wiki and see for yourself).**_

6. Majesty - The older sister of Glory and Moondancer. Majesty is her family's pride and joy, being completely graceful, regal, polite, well mannered, elegant, and sophisticated, striving to meet her family's expectations, though this doesn't mean she doesn't have her own will. When she can, she does feel the need to express disapproval when she sees fit.

7. Bubbles - An Earth pony who is a bit of a neat freak, and kinda OCD. But she's genuinely friendly and playful, always looking for friends to play with, but being as shy as she is, has a bit of trouble expressing herself properly. But Lemon Drop and Lickety Split are always there to help her out.

8. Bow Tie - A cheerful and optimistic pony who sees the good in everyone and supports her friends all the way. She has a ribbon obsession but this doesn't stop her. She's also a very skilled fighter, keen on defending herself when she's in a sticky situation. She is also very good at solving problems. She's Ribbon's younger sister, Moondancer's best friend, and a social butterfly.

9. Lickety Split - A very hyper pony who everybody thinks eats too much sugar...or in this case, ice cream. She's always bouncing off the walls about something, even knocking stuff over in the process. But when she can be, she can be very calm, understanding, and serious when confronted with a serious situation or matter, and she doesn't give anypony any horse garbage when she's dead serious about something.

10. Sunbeam - Everybody thinks she has some kind of multiple personality disorder. One minute she's shy and won't come out, the next she's hyper and exuberant, the next she's angry and wants to kill you, and finally she'll be calm and collected. But one thing's for sure: she hates it when other ponies are sad and tries to make them happy. Some say she's a bit too innocent.

11. Surprise - a pegasus who everybody thinks eats too much sugar on a regular basis. She's always surprising people with exploding boxes, fireworks, and anything she can get her hands on, much to the chagrin of everypony else. She's hyper and always zipping around all over the place. Hardly anyone can stop her. She's way more uncontrollable than Lickety Split.

12. Gusty - the biggest grouch and sourpuss in existence. She's always grumpy or angry about something, though she isn't always like this. She seems to think that if other ponies do something to her, whether it's by accident or not, that they all do it on purpose. She does have a kind side to her, something that she's too embarrassed to show the rest of the ponies. Medley is the only pony she doesn't yell at on a regular basis.

13. Fizzy - a happy-go-lucky unicorn with a big heart who, oddly enough, is quite the large pony despite her normally childish nature. She's one of the largest and strongest ponies around, though she is a bit insecure about it. She's also a very sweet and gentle pony who tries to make any sad and lonely pony happy with small but kind gestures. She's capable of magic like Moondancer, but doesn't have complete control. She's good at making sodas and works at The Dot, along with Sweet Stuff, Lickety-Split, and other ponies.

14. Starshine - a mature, friendly, reliable, spindly-legged pegasus who has known Firefly and Medley since they were little, though she's much older than them. She's popular among not just pegasi, but all ponies, for her kind but brave and bold nature. She taught many pegasi how to fly, but feels that Firefly and Medley are her best students. She does have a flair for silly hair styles.

15. Skydancer - Starshine's older sister, who is a bit more stern than her. While she's definitely kind and motherly, she tends to let her position of authority go to her head sometimes, and Starshine is always there to make sure she doesn't go too far. She definitely wants to look out for other ponies and help them out whenever she can. She's also an elegant pony who loves ballet dancing.

16. Lemon Drop - An athletic pony who's always jumping around and performing tricks. She's Bubbles' best friend. Unlike Bubbles, who is shy and doesn't move around much, Lemon Drop is energetic and talkative, though if you get on her bad side, you'll see that she's quite the sass mouth. She's very bold, never hesitating to say what's on her mind like Moondancer, but knows when to show restraint.

To The Forest of Firefly Light

Chapter 1: A Good Day Gone Sour

On one particularly halcyon, beautiful and lucid day, when the wispy, white cotton candy clouds gently and aimlessly floated in the vast, cool, wide-open blue sky and the sun emitted it's golden effulgence on the world below, a green pegasus mare flew around anxiously, turning her head back and forth as she did, her forest green locks tumbling around whenever she looked in one direction.

Her grassy green wings flapped up and down as she flew, though she maintained a decent altitude. Her thick, plump, wavy hair and tail, much darker in shade than the rest of her body, flew as it was caught by the gentle breeze, though it didn't lessen the young green mare's worry any. On both sides of her flank are two dark green musical notes, one single eighth note and one double eighth note. The young green mare's eyes are a pure, pristine, pale blue, just like the sky above her. She flew through the town and the fields, but her worry didn't lessen.

She did, however, come across three other ponies, happily playing and laughing amongst each other. A young, ocean blue earth pony with long, thick, cotton candy pink hair and sweet, wide lavendar eyes. Her hair and tail have been done up in braids and curls, donned with big yellow ribbons. On her face are white freckles, and both sides of her flank have three pale pink ribbons. The second mare is a beautiful, snow white unicorn with a sharp white horn, messy red hair with a violet purple streak in both her messy hair and short, fuzzy tail, and ocean blue eyes. On both sides of her flank is a silver crescent moon and a red star. The third pony is a purple pegasus with massively curly, pale pink hair like the blue pony's, only instead of bows, she has yellow star accessories on both her hair and tail. Her eyes are lavendar, like the blue pony's, on her back are pretty purple wings, and on both sides of her flank is a picture of a white candle with a yellow flame and candle holder. Catching the three happy ponies within her vicinity, the green pegasus flew over to them.

"Hello there!" The green pegasus called out in a particularly sweet voice, which caught the attention of all three ponies.

"Oh! Hi Medley!" The white unicorn with red and purple hair exclaimed happily. "What's up?"

"Moondancer?" The green pegasus, Medley, became surprised upon seeing the red-haired unicorn, Moondancer. "Aren't you and your sisters supposed to be practicing for the National Talent Competition?" She asked, curious.

"We just finished!" Moondancer piped in as she stood up, proud and alert. "Glory and Majesty FINALLY cut me a break, so I've been here with Bow Tie and Twilight playing around for the past ten minutes! Right, Bow Tie?" Moondancer turned to the blue pony, apparently named Bow Tie, which is very fitting because of her many yellow ribbons.

"Yep! You really saved me there, Medley," Bow Tie said in a particularly cute voice as she wiped away some tears caused by too much laughter. "Moondancer just wouldn't stop tickling me."

"Oh, come on, Bow Tie! You're so much fun to torture!" Moondancer rubbed Bow Tie's pink mane with her hoof playfully, messing up her hair, but Bow Tie didn't seem to mind. Moondancer then turned to the purple pegasus. "Right, Twilight?"

"I think that'll be enough for today," The purple pegasus, Twilight, told them kindly, then turned to Medley. "So what did you want, Medley?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you all, but you haven't seen Firefly around by any chance, have you? We need to practice our routine for the competition," Medley asked.

"Oh! I saw her!" Bow Tie suddenly piped in, raising one of her front hooves. "Last I saw she was heading toward the lake over there," Bow Tie pointed to the area where she saw Firefly last.

"That's true. She's very intent on winning the competition, isn't she? I do wish she wouldn't push herself too hard or do anything weird," Twilight said.

"I agree. Thanks for letting me know," Medley said as she was about to leave, but Moondancer suddenly stopped her.

"Wait! While you're at it, can you tell her that Sweet Stuff made a batch of her favorite caramell truffles down at The Dot?" Moondancer piped in excitedly.

Medley facehoofed. "Goodness gracious! I told her to cut back on those things! They're not healthy!"

"I wouldn't worry about Firefly in regards to that. Considering how often she flies around and exercises on a regular basis, I doubt there's any chance she'll gain any weight any time soon," Twilight said. Moondancer and Bow Tie laughed.

"That's true!" Bow Tie said.

Medley sighed. "You have a point. Thanks anyway!"

With that, Medley flew away, leaving Bow Tie, Moondancer, and Twilight alone with each other as they suddenly began chasing each other around.

As Medley got closer to the lake, she saw two yellow earth ponies hiding behind a big rock timorously. One has dark, curly sea blue hair, lighter blue eyes, and green and blue bubbles on her flank. The other pony has fur of a lighter shade of yellow, flouncy dark purple hair, lighter purple eyes, and four purple rain drops on both sides of her flank. Medley flew over to them.

"Bubbles and Lemon Drop! Hello!" Medley called out as she descended before them.

"SHHHH!" Both Bubbles and Lemon Drop shushed her as soon as she arrived. "Not so loud!" Lemon Drop scolded.

"What's wrong?" Medley asked, confused.

"Gusty's gone berserk again," Bubbles told her shyly and timorously.

Medley facehoofed again. "What happened this time?"

Her answer popped right in front of them.

"Come back here, you!"

"YEEEEK!"

_WHOOSH!_

Huge gusts of wind battered the entire area. All of a sudden, a pale grey pegasus with flouncy yellow hair tied up in buns and purple balloons on her flank flew out of nowhere after being blown by the big gusty storm. Then came a very choleric white unicorn with frizzy green hair with a red streak in it, green eyes that blazed with anger, and two purple maple leaves on her flank. The wind came from her horn, which glowed in a neon green light. Bubbles, Lemon Drop, and Medley watched in fear as the white unicorn chased the frantic yellow-haired pegasus in a rage.

"SURPRISE! You get down here right now so I can pound you!" The unicorn howled angrily, referring to the grey pegasus as Surprise.

"Quit being such a grouch, Gusty! I was just trying to make you smile a bit!" Surprise said with a smile, referring to the angry unicorn as Gusty, whose anger reached it's peak.

"Quit makin' excuses! Now you're gonna get it!" Gusty roared as she attempted to blow Surprise against the rock with a huge tornado.

_'I can't let Gusty do this! It's time to take action!'_ Medley ruminated frantically. Right as the huge wind storm shot out from Gusty's white horn, Medley stepped in. She put herself in the way of the wind storm, putting herself between Surprise and the battering wind. Medley managed to stop Surprise from getting hit and tried hard to at least make the wind stop. She pushed herself against the cutting wind, not caring that it's messing up her hair and pushing against her little green body mercilessly. Once Medley gathered her strength, with a big whinny, she used her green wings to cut the wind and make the ferocious tornado dissipate completely! Her dark green hair became messy and spiky, but she didn't mind. Everyone was shocked once the wind disappeared.

"Whoa! That was so cool!" Lemon Drop exclaimed in shock.

Once Medley finished fixing her hair, she put on her straight look and stared at Gusty sternly.

"Alright. What's going on here?" Medley asked with her front hooves crossed like that of an austere authority figure.

"What are ya lookin' at _me_ for? It's that stupid idiot Surprise who needs a good spanking! She attacked me with one of her exploding boxes with an army of balloons and everything! She singed part of my hair! Get outta my way so I can pound her to the ground! Lemme at her!" Gusty yelled and tried to get past Medley, but the forest green pegasus was NOT going to let this grouchy unicorn get her way, so she stayed in front of her like an obstacle.

"Gusty. I know you're upset, but violence isn't the way to solve this problem," Medley told the choleric unicorn sternly but kindly, then turned to face Surprise, who smiled upon sight of her. "Surprise. Exactly what _DID_ you do to Gusty?"

"I wasn't trying to make her mad! Honest!" Surprise piped in with her high pitched voice, like that of a little girl. "I saw she was kinda sad, so I thought I'd make her happy with one of my surprise boxes! Balloons, fireworks, and confetti always brighten up a pony's day! Really!"

"You liar! You're obviously trying to spite me! You always do!" Gusty yelled.

"That's enough, Gusty!" Medley snapped, and Gusty kept quiet. Medley turned completely around so she can face Surprise.

"Surprise, dear. While it is nice that you want to make Gusty happy, and I know you're a genuinely nice pony and all, but you have to understand. Sometimes shoving exploding boxes at them won't make them feel better. Ponies who are sad or have had a bad day don't need any more excitement. I know you meant well, and I understand that, but you need to think about how the ponies feel and be considerate of their feelings. Getting all happy and excited doesn't exactly fit the situation they're in. If you want to make them happy, you should try a more quieter and gentler approach. Sometimes a little too much excitement isn't exactly very appropriate," Medley told her gently and kindly, but strictly.

"But I didn't mean to make her mad!" Surprise said.

"I know. But exploding boxes aren't the answer to everything," Medley said.

Feeling a little dejected, Surprise descended to the ground. The yellowness in her hair seemed to have lost some of it's flounce and shine.

"She doesn't feel guilty at all!" Gusty shouted.

"Can it, will ya?" Lemon Drop suddenly shouted from behind the rock.

Medley then turned to Gusty with the same look. "Gusty, dear. I know you're upset, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you know how Surprise is. All she wanted to do was cheer you up. She just doesn't understand that there are more appropriate ways to do it, and she definitely wasn't spiting you in any way. Surprise is the last pony who'd ever want to spite anyone," Medley explained.

Unfortunately, Gusty wasn't buying it. "So you're takin' her side over me?"

"No! That's not what I'm saying," Medley snapped a little, becoming irritated by Gusty's obstinate and intractable attitude, though she tried to remain as calm as possible. "Forgive me for sounding rude, but I do feel you should shed your habit of thinking everypony's plotting to spite you or do things to you out of malicious ulterior motive. Surprise wasn't trying to exacerbate your temper. She just doesn't know better, and blowing wind at her face won't solve anything."

Medley then put Gusty and Surprise in front of each other. "Now I want you all to apologize."

They both looked down sadly. "I'm sorry."

Medley smiled. "Good! Now everything's alright."

"I gotta admit, I never knew you could hold off my powers like that, Medley. Nopony's ever done that, and I don't think I've ever had it happen to me before! I'm surprised!" Gusty said, feeling a little calmer.

"What's there to be surprised about? I've done it before. Firefly has too," Medley said. "Oh! Speaking of Firefly, have any of you seen her by any chance?"

"I saw her!" Surprise piped in, raising one of her hooves into the air proudly. "She's at the lake!"

"We saw her there, too," Bubbles backed Surprise's claim.

"Last I heard she was messin' around with the weather again," Gusty said.

Medley flew into the air. "Thanks, everyone!" With that, she flew away gently. She didn't know that Gusty gave Surprise an annoyed glance, but Surprise didn't notice, as she also flew away.

After about a few minutes, Medley finally saw that the lake and the pony she's looking for are within her vicinity. The lake itself is big and beautiful. The sun always reflects off of it, looking like a pristine jewel glistening in the grass in the morning, and there are lots of fish in there. A pink pegasus pony flew all over the place, her frizzy, lighting blue mane and tail contrasting with her bright body color starkly. Like Bow Tie and Lemon Drop, her eyes are a stunning light purple, and on both sides of her flank are two blue lightning bolts. Upon seeing the pink pegasus pony perform a few loops and tricks, Medley smiled and immediately flew over to her.

"Firefly!" Medley called out.

The pink pegasus, Firefly, stopped and watched with a smile as a happy Medley flew over to her.

"Oh! Hi Medley! You came just in time!" Firefly said with a smile as she high hoofed her friend.

"I've been so worried about you. I've been looking for you for half an hour now," Medley said.

Firefly blushed, chuckled, and rubbed her blue mane at the same time. "Sorry for makin' ya worry. I was looking for a place for us to practice in peace without all the other ponies interrupting us or messing it up, and I found this and thought it was just perfect! I was actually just about to go and find you," She explained.

Medley smiled sweetly. "That sounds wonderful, and I'm glad you're alright. I would have been here earlier, but I had to resolve a misunderstanding between Gusty and Surprise."

Firefly groaned. "Ugh. Gusty's such a sourpuss extraordinaire, isn't she? Last week she accused me of trying to throw her into a muddy puddle when she fell into it by accident! She went after me for weeks, even after I told her the truth! Though I think I can understand why she'd attack Surprise. She's always annoying ponies with her crazy and over-the-top antics."

"Well, Surprise does mean well. She just doesn't know the appropriate ways to express herself, and Gusty's not all Miss Sourpuss," Medley told her kindly. "But enough about that. Shall we practice our routine?"

Firefly smiled eagerly. "You bet! Let's get down with it, my friend!"

The pegasus pair descended onto the grass to take a break from flying for a minute. They looked up at the clear blue sky with courage, then, quick as lightning, ascended into the air. The two pegasi swirled around in the air, first forming an 8 shape, then flying far away from each other. As soon as they got far enough from each other, with great speed they descended to the ground, but without touching the grass, they met at each other's noses and quickly ascended into the air together, like two parallel lines. Once they got high enough, they swirled around each other like a tornado, then flew at each other on a near collision course, then stopped once they got too close. They did this at least three more times.

"Aaaaand STOP!" Medley edicted in a proud voice, which made Firefly stop in her tracks. Medley stopped also. "I think that'll be all for today."

"Awww. I wanted to try my super cool Thundersprint Special!" Firefly said.

"Performing something like that can be dangerous if you're not careful, so I suggest we do it on the day of the competition. How's that?" Medley suggested.

Firefly smiled. "Sure! Okay!"

"Way to go!" A sweet, high voice suddenly shouted from below. Surprised, Firefly and Medley looked down to see that they have quite an audience below them. Moondancer, Bow Tie, Twilight, Surprise, Bubbles, Lemon Drop, Gusty, and four other ponies. To be more specific, three unicorns and one earth pony. One unicorn is pure white, with beautiful curly blue violet hair and tail with an ocean blue streak in both, ocean blue eyes, and a silver and purple shooting star on both sides of her flank. Another unicorn is pale blue, with a silver mane and tail, with a golden yellow streak in both, and emerald green eyes. The other unicorn is a forest green color, with her frizzy and wavy mane and tail in four different colors: white, light pink, dark pink, and dark green. Her eyes are a brilliant rose color, and on both sides of her flanks are three pink cups full of white sodas in them, with pink straws sticking out. The earth pony is pink, with curly pale pink hair and lavendar eyes. On both sides of her flank are three ice cream cones with vanilla ice cream on them. Firefly and Medley descended before all of them.

"Hey, looks like we have an audience, Meds!" Firefly said.

"Oh! Glory, Sunbeam, Fizzy, and Lickety-Split! You all came!" Medley exclaimed. The white unicorn is Glory, the blue unicorn is Sunbeam, the pink pony is Lickety-split, and the green, multi-color haired unicorn is Fizzy.

"Your little air show just now was beautiful!" Fizzy exclaimed in a sweet voice like Bow Tie's, only slightly highter pitched.

"But we didn't do much," Medley said.

"Yeah! Wait until you see our super awesome Firefly Thundersprint Medley! We'll blow all of the other competitors away!" Firefly exclaimed happily while doing a spirited backflip.

"If you think that's gonna win the competition, wait until you see the trick me, Glory, Majesty, and Sunbeam are gonna do! It'll shoot you two down!" Moondancer exclaimed, her voice a little cocky.

"Now, Moondancer, there's no need to be so cocky," The graceful white unicorn, Glory, told her in a kind, polite voice. "Everyone who's performing in the talent show has put a lot of effort into their performances, so we shouldn't talk down on them. Besides, you never know what they have in store until you see it with your own eyes."

"Oh! Oh! You two were sooooooo cool!" The blue unicorn, Sunbeam, exclaimed while hopping all over the place. "You were all WHOOSH! And then you were all Whoo-Whoo-Whoo-Whoo-" Sunbeam was about to go on a talking spree until Fizzy put a hoof on her mouth to keep her from talking anymore.

"I think they get the idea, Sunbeam," Fizzy told her.

"Is that gonna be your trick for the talent show?" Lickety-Split asked.

"Sure is! Meds and I have been workin' on it for two weeks now!" Firefly said as she descended to the ground again. "It's gonna be so awesome!"

"I can't wait to see your Thundersprint thingy," Bow Tie said.

"Hey Bow! Is it true you and your sister are gonna perform, too?" Surprise asked.

"Yep! Ribbon and I are going to make a pony entirely out of ribbons!" Bow Tie replied happily.

"A pony made out of bows and ribbons? Now I would love to see that!" Medley said with a big smile. Bow Tie blushed a bit.

"Me too! I bet it'll be cool!" Lickety-Split said.

"Is it gonna be big?" Bubbles asked.

"Yep! Very big!" Bow Tie said.

"Oh! Speaking of big, hey Firefly and Meds!" Gusty said suddenly. "I hear that Lofty, Heart Throb, and Wind Whistler are gonna perform their own little air show with some tricks of their own. Ya better be careful around them. I saw them practicin' once, and they were pretty good."

Firefly looked at Glory with a confused face. "Heart Throb and Wind Whistler? Together? But they hate each other's guts!"

"Not really," Twilight piped in. "They just have differing views on certain things, and I've seen them get along just fine. I'm just hoping Wind Whistler doesn't mix chemicals that cause an explosion again."

"Ugh! Don't you dare get me started on that!" Gusty exclaimed.

"Now now, no need to explode in anger yourself!" Medley said as she stormed in front of Gusty with a worried look on her face.

"Anyone want to head over to The Dot? I made new pistachio ice cream!" Lickety-Split asked.

"Sure! Let's go!" Fizzy exclaimed happily.

"I'd like to, but I can't," Bow Tie said a little sadly. "I have karate lessons after this, and my parents want me to cut back on sweets for a while."

"I see," Medley said. "But it's okay! I'm sure you and Ribbon will do wonderful at the talent contest, and we'll be sure to send you a box of Sweet Stuff's crepes so you can save them for later."

"Sweet Stuff?" Firefly asked suddenly, her purple eyes widening. "Oh! Did she make her special truffles today? She did! Woohoo! Truffles, here I come!" Firefly was about to zip away, like how Bow Tie did just now, but she felt a strong tug on her tail. It was Moondancer's magic.

"I got her, Meds!" Moondancer exclaimed. Medley flew in front of Firefly with her front hooves crossed.

"Firefly! I told you to cut back on sweets until AFTER the talent contest!" Medley told her friend sternly, like she was her parent. "We need to be fit and healthy if we're going to perform the routine just right."

"Awww, come on! Don't be so uptight! I've been working real hard!" Firefly complained. Some of the other ponies laughed at their parent-child display.

"I think we all deserve a little break from practice for a while. Let's head on over to The Dot, shall we?" Twilight suggested.

"Count me out. I've got stuff to do," Gusty said.

"Me too," Bubbles said shyly.

"Oh. That's disappointing. Maybe next time," Sunbeam said. With that, Gusty and Bubbles left while the rest of the ponies went down to their favorite gathering place, The Dot.

The Dot is pretty much the go-to place for anything related to sweets. Fizzy sodas, ice cream, crepes, desserts, cupcakes, cakes, everything in the not-so-healthy department, you can find at The Dot, though they do serve healthy foods too. Fizzy, Lickety-Split, and a few other ponies (like Sweet Stuff, who is mentioned a lot) work there for a living. But sometimes, on rare occasions, strange things happen there, often good. When the ponies arrived at The Dot, a very unexpected guest had already arrived before them. Sitting at a little table, contentedly drinking a mocha frappucchino in peace is a very beautiful, stunning, slender-legged unicorn, with snow white fur, sweet dark purple eyes like violets, a long horn, very long, straight, pale, sky blue hair and tail with white streaks in both with her mane tied with a pale green ribbon, and very long, slender legs. On both sides of her flank are three blue flowers. Her tail seemed to trail right past her hooves. The ponies gasped when they saw this beautiful, elegant sight.

"Majesty!" Sunbeam called out suddenly, capturing the attention of said white unicorn, Majesty.

Majesty's thick, black eyelashes fluttered a little as she saw the huge flock of ponies marveling in her appearance. "Why, hello there, my little ponies. It's such a beautiful day out, isn't it? Don't be so awestruck. I'm just treating myself to a delightful mocha frappucchino," Majesty said in a very mature and beautiful lady-like voice, much more so than Glory.

"But I thought you hated coming here, Majesty," Glory said, a little confused as to why her high-class sister would come to a place like this.

"Oh, no, no, no," Majesty said. "I don't hate coming here at all. Mother and Father don't approve of me coming here, though I managed to sneak out."

"Man, you sure have a way of surprising us, big sis," Moondancer said.

"Sorry if my presence is such a strange thing," Majesty said.

"It's not strange at all! We're happy to see you!" Fizzy cheered happily. Majesty chuckled a bit.

"You're such a cutie pie, Fizzy," Majesty said. Fizzy didn't seem to hear her as she went to the kitchen and began talking to the other ponies who worked there. Firefly was going to do the same, only for other ulterior motives, but Moondancer, being as quick as she is with her magic, managed to stop her before she could raid Sweet Stuff's truffle vault.

"Where are Gusty, Bow Tie, and Bubbles? Aren't they usually with you?" Majesty said.

"Bow Tie said she has karate lessons and that her parents want her to cut back on coming here for a while," Medley explained.

"Yeah! Gusty and Bubbles said they have stuff to do so they couldn't make it either," Surprise explained.

"Oh. How disappointing. I would have liked to see them," Majesty said.

"I'm getting hungry. Let's eat!" Firefly exclaimed.

The Dot bustled with energy and activity thanks to this flock of ponies. They talked, chattered, palavered, argued, and laughed happily amongst themselves for quite a while. After about 10 minutes, Fizzy and Lickety-Split all veered away from the lively group because they just started their afternoon shift, and while Medley took the liberty of taking the box of truffles from Sweet Stuff, she made sure it didn't land in Firefly's hooves lest she scarf them down and wind up losing energy for the talent competition.

Despite trying to deal with Firefly, Medley couldn't help but feel quite happy and content being among such a lively, merry, and happy group of friends. Friends who talked together, laughed together, joked together, argued over silly things together, helping each other, accepting each other, and basically being happy and free of everything. Of course, Medley knew first hand that friendship isn't all fun and rainbows. Sometimes, it can even be difficult. But she cherished every single minute of this lively gathering. She did wish that events like this could go on forever. She loved being with her friends despite their faults. The energetic Firefly, Twilight the social butterfly, free-spirited Moondancer, graceful Glory, dignified Majesty, happy-go-lucky Lickety-Split, fun-loving Sunbeam, sweet natured Bow Tie, grouchy Gusty, playful Bubbles, cheerful Lemon Drop, optimistic Fizzy, and hyper Surprise. Flawed as they are, Medley loved and cherished every single one of her friends. As she became lost in thought, she failed to notice that Firefly managed to sneak one truffle out of the box and eat it while she wasn't looking.

"Medley, dear?" Majesty's dignified, elegant voice managed to pull the green pegasus out of her reverie.

"Huh? Majesty?" She looked at the white unicorns long, beautiful face with confusion.

"You were lost in thought, dear. Why is that?" Majesty asked curiously.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Medley said, a little surprised by her actions, but then smiled a little. "It's just...when I was little, I didn't have very many friends. I'm normally a very timid pony, and when I was young, I was afraid of heights and couldn't fly. Pegasi always bullied me about it. But Firefly...she's been with me since we started flight camp and, while she has her faults, I couldn't be happier. But now, I have lots of friends! I never thought that the day would ever come that I would be in such a lively group pf friends."

Majesty smiled brightly upon seeing the green pegasus' bright blue eyes widen happily as she talked about her experiences. "I can certainly see that you're very happy. You and Firefly have certainly come a long way, and I'm sure it wasn't easy."

"It sure wasn't! But oh, I shouldn't say Firefly was my only friend in flight camp. I guess you can consider Skydancer and Starshine my friends too, even though they're older than us. They-" Medley was about to talk about her mentors, Skydancer and Starshine, until somepony walked into The Dot.

A bright yellow pegasus with long, flowing, rainbow-colored hair in all colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple! This pegasus is slightly bigger and ganglier-looking than the younger ponies, with rather spindly legs, large yellow wings, and small eyes of a brilliant rose color. On both sides of her flank are a flock of green birds looking as though they're flying toward a sunset, though the birds themselves look more like green V's than birds.

"Everypony! I think it's time you all went on home now!" The rainbow-haired pegasus exclaimed.

"Awwww! I wanted to show everyone our trick, Skydancer!" Moondancer whined a little.

"You can do that tomorrow. It's getting dark, and ponies of your age shouldn't be running around late at night," The yellow pegasus, Skydancer, told them sternly.

"But it's still light out!" Moondancer argued.

"Be that as it may, the sun is beginning to set, so let's listen to Skydancer and start for home. It won't do us any good to get lost at night," Medley said, backing Skydancer.

Agreeing with Medley, the ponies decided to pay for their food and leave The Dot for today. The employees still have to stick around so they can prepare for closing time. Moondancer drooped her head down as she walked out. She then felt a hoof in her hair. It belonged to Glory, who looked at her with tenderness in her eyes.

"Don't fret so, Moondancer. We'll show them our performance tomorrow when we have time," Glory told her kindly, hoping to reassure her. It worked, as Moondancer smiled and walked home with her two sisters. The ponies went home and packed it in for today.

While it is natural for ponies to expect tomorrow to be a better day than yesterday, sometimes, days have a way of starting off on a very sour note, even when it's not intended. Due to construction workers paving a road all through the night, Medley had been woken up dozens of times. She didn't live in the clouds, but in a little cottage by the river. She woke up feeling quite groggy and grouchy, like Gusty on even a regular day. But that was just the start. As Medley was going to make herself a cup of sweet daisy tea with honey, she tripped on a music sheet book and wound up not only spilling her favorite drink, but destroying her cup! Being the diligent pony she is, she cleaned up the mess, put her music sheets away, and started again. When she went to feed the birds in her backyard, she realized she forgot to buy more bird feed, so she went to the nearest store to pick some up. The problem is, the store was sold out. So were two others. These unfortunate events were making Medley grumpy, but she persisted and found a fourth store which, happily, stocked up on quite a few bags of bird feed. With the few coins she had, she picked up two big bags so she wouldn't have to buy more for a while. But the bags proved to be heavy, and hard to carry around. Medley didn't let this stop her and managed to bring them home and feed the birds, who happily consumed their breakfast, late as it was. Medley wanted to take a little nap, but Firefly banged on her door and begged her to practice the routine. Not wanting to disappoint Firefly, she went with her.

The groggy green pegasus had yet to realize that that would prove to be a mistake. Taking a nap would prove to be a better decision than going with her, as the latter would result in something Medley would soon regret.

"No, no, no!" Medley shouted after the two pegasi performed the routine twice. "Firefly, you're doing it wrong! You're supposed to fly towards me, not away from me!"

"I was just about to do that!" Firefly shouted, and they started the routine again for a third time. Then a fourth. All of those times, Medley kept criticizing Firefly.

"That's not right! We have to make an eight shape, not a four shape!"

"You're flying too fast! I can't keep up!"

"Spread your wings out when you get to this part!"

After the fifth try, Firefly finally had enough and exploded.

"MEDLEY! WILL YOU SHUT UP FOR TWO SECONDS?" Firefly screamed angrily, frightening Medley a little. "Jeez! You're driving me buggy here!"

"I just want this routine to be right so we can win the competition!" Medley argued.

"Hm! You didn't say we, just I! _YOU_ want this routine to be right! Everything always has to be perfect with you! Loosen up, will ya? I'm sick and tired of you telling me what to do all the time!" Firefly snapped.

Now this made Medley snap herself, and it's VERY unlike her to snap at anyone, Firefly especially. "Well, I'm sorry that I actually care about us winning the competition!"

"It's always me me me with you! You want everybody and everything to be perfect with you!"

"That's not true!"

"And you keep saying I instead of me! You probably want to outshine me in the competition so you can take the grand prize and leave me in the dust!"

"Firefly!" Medley shouted, shocked by Firefly's unprecedented insinuation. "Where in all the world did you get such an idea? You know that I want us both to win! And I can't outshine you! I never have!"

"But you're always going _'Firefly, don't do this,'_ _'Firefly, don't do that,'_ and I'm sick and tired of it! Why do you have to be such a control freak?"

"I am NOT a control freak! You're too reckless!"

"_Me? Reckless?_ Gusty and Surprise are WAY more reckless than me, and they hate each other's guts!"

"All I want is for us to get this routine down right so we can win!"

"By yelling at me all the time? That's not how it works, greenie!"

"I care about you!"

"You don't care about me! You only want to make yourself look good!"

"You want to make _YOURSELF_ look good, you stupid pink ball of flightless fluff!"

"Look who's talking! You were flightless when we first met, you big green scaredy-cat!"

"I've gotten over that!"

"No you haven't! You just wanna stay on the ground and not let me do whatever I want!"

"I just don't want you getting hurt!"

"So what if I get hurt a little? It's part of flying! I don't see you taking any chances! This is what I hate about you! You're too big of a scaredy-cat to actually do stuff! Throw some excitement in your life! Take a chance! Take a risk! Dive right in! Who cares if you get hurt? It'll be worth it if you actually do something!"

"Why don't you stop being so cocky for once in your life and listen to me!"

"Who do you think you are, my mom? I've been listening to you since forever, and I'm getting nowhere because of you!"

"Firefly-"

"I don't want to hear it! You know what, forget it! You can perform the routine by yourself! I'll have NO part of it! I'm sick and tired of you treating me like your perfect little slave! I'm outta here!"

Consumed by anger, Firefly zipped away from the lake, leaving behind a choleric Medley. She didn't bother to see where the angry pink pegasus flew to, but she certainly shouted some final words.

"Fine! Leave for all I care! I'm sick and tired of taking care of you like I'm your mother anyway! You can get hurt for all I care! Do whatever you want! You don't need me to stop you!" Medley screamed louder than Firefly did, but didn't chase after her.

After finally releasing all of her pent up anger, the tired green pegasus descended to the ground. She sat on the grass, caught her breath, and stared at the scenery for a while. She then looked down at the water in the lake, which reflected her green, anger-filled face, and all of a sudden, she was appalled by what she saw. She didn't see herself. She saw some other green pegasus, completely red with anger and hatred, something she never wanted to see or feel. It's quite unlike Medley to ever get angry, and even she knew this. She then remembered the fight she and Firefly had just now...and felt tears popping out of her sky blue eyes. How could she have been so cruel? How could she ever have the audacity to say such horrible things about her best friend, the one pegasus who always believed in her, the one who always stayed by her side in both good times and bad? Firefly had been her rock, her gal pal, the one best friend who accepted her for who she was, flaws and all, but now...the sour morning she had caused her to change into a completely different pony and, as a result, she just lost it. She officially lost her close-knit friendship with Firefly...and she was the one who caused it all to fall apart. Medley, feeling herself become empty upon realizing what she had done, finally broke down and cried. She buried her tear-filled face in the grass and her hooves and wailed loudly.

"Firefly! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! How could I be so terrible? How could I be so stupid?" Medley cried and cried, completely dejected by the fact that she herself caused a rift in their close-knit friendship.

She wondered if they could ever fix the rift between them and be friends again. That answer would come in a way nobody would expect.


	2. The Search For Firefly Intensifies

Note: I DO NOT own any of the ponies except for Lightning Bug, Thunderbird, Storm Cloud, and Torchlight.

Chapter 2: The Search for Firefly Intensifies

Around the same time, Moondancer, Glory, Majesty, Sunbeam, Twilight, Lickety-Split, and Lemon Drop happened to be walking toward that very same lake, talking happily amongst themselves. Moondancer was telling them a story about a dispute between Gusty and Wind Whistler.

"...and then Gusty said, _'Will you shut that big yappy hole under your nose?! I don't wanna have to go through life listening to a stupid dictionary yap all day!'_" Moondancer said, which sent all the ponies bursting into laughter except for Glory and Majesty, who looked at each other with disappointed faces. Their faces didn't show disappointment for Gusty, but for Moondancer.

"Gusty just doesn't loosen up, does she?" Lemon Drop laughed. "I do kinda wish she'd stop being such a sourpuss all the time."

"Yeah! Being a sourpuss all the time makes you lose your ability to appreciate life and all the good things it offers us!" Sunbeam piped in proudly, her wide, emerald green eyes beaming.

Moondancer suddenly stopped in her tracks, surprised by Sunbeam's proclamation. "Whoa...I never knew you were a life lover, Sunbeam."

"Why shouldn't I be? I love everything! I love bunnies, butterflies, the sky, the flowers, the rocks, the river, the wind, the sunshine, everything!" Sunbeam edicted with a big smile on her bright, blue face.

"High hoof!" Moondancer edicted, raising a hoof for Sunbeam to hit, which she did. "I totally agree with you. To me, life is something you really shouldn't take for granted. You need to enjoy it! Live it like it's your last! Don't go through life being all grouchy all the time! I mean, seriously, Gusty's so grouchy all the time, I'm beginning to think she feels bogged down by her own grouchiness!"

"I really don't think it's nice to poke fun at someone's flaws, Moondancer," Glory said a little sternly. "I'm sure Gusty isn't grouchy all the time. We really shouldn't define her by one trait she has. Who knows? Maybe she has a kind side to her."

"I've seen it!" Lickety-Split edicted suddenly. "I've seen Gusty be kind!"

"Gusty? Kind? I can't imagine it," Twilight said.

"This one time, I saw her taking care of a little colt who was being bullied by some other colts, and she told them off. It was so cool! I'd never seen her be so brave before. I do kind of wish I was as brave as her," Lickety-Split explained.

"She's definitely one who loves standing up for what she believes in," Majesty said.

"Me too!" Moondancer piped in, raising her hoof again.

"Hey! This is the perfect place to practice our routine! Come on! Let's get down with it!" Sunbeam said.

"Hold on," Lemon Drop said, looking into the distance and becoming curious.

"What's up, Lemon Drop?" Moondancer asked.

"Is something wrong?" Majesty asked.

"I hear somepony crying," Lemon Drop whispered. "It's coming from the lake."

"Let's go and see," Lickety-Split suggested. Everypony nodded and decided to go to the lake to see who's crying.

It didn't take them very long to get there, and the closer they got to the source of the sound, the louder it got, and once the ponies got there, they would be quite surprised. The ponies finally made it to the lake, but the pony they least expected to be alone and wailing like a baby pony was there, as it turned out to be none other than...

_"Medley?!"_ All the ponies yelped in surprise. Medley continued to cry and was so engrossed with crying that she didn't even bother to look up at them, let alone respond. The ponies looked at each other with confused faces for a minute, but it was Twilight who krept up to Medley and gently rubbed her pert little plum-colored nose against her green face, which stimulated the tear-faced Medley into looking at her with very abject and dejected eyes. It made Twilight's heart sag a little, but she spoke to her.

"It's okay, Medley. We're here. What's wrong? It's rare to see you cry," Twilight asked in a gentle, dulcet voice, hoping she wouldn't scare Medley. Thankfully, Medley sat up and wiped some tears away while the other ponies sat down to offer some solace, though the tears continued to flow. She cried so much she had trouble talking at first, but after calming down a bit, she decided to talk about it.

"I...I've had such a dreadful morning. I've been deprived of sleep, I broke one of my cups, I had to go to four different pet stores because I ran out of bird feed and the other stores were sold out, and the bags turned out to be heavier than I could handle! Firefly and I tried to practice our routine, but I wound up taking my anger out on her by criticizing her performance. I...I should have been able to calm down and stop myself before everything got worse, but I succumbed to my anger and exacerbated the situation instead! I wound up calling her horrible names, pointed out her flaws, and told her to get lost! I never...should have let the situation get as bad as it did! I should have calmed down and mollified it before it got bad! But NOOOOO! I had to yell at her instead and act exactly like Gusty!" Medley cried as she told them about what happened. By the end, she wound up succumbing to more fits of crying again. This time, Moondancer nudged her gently.

"Don't cry, Meds. Stuff like that happens all the time. We all take our anger out on somepony at some point in our life, and considering what you went through this morning, I think it would have happened anyway, no matter how else you tried to handle it," Moondancer told her reassuringly, but it didn't seem to help.

"Maybe Firefly's right. I am a control freak," Medley whimpered.

"How in the world are you, of all ponies, a control freak? Buttons is the biggest control freak in all the world! I've seen control freaks, and you're definitely not one of them!" Lemon Drop exclaimed.

"Our parents are control freaks as well," Glory piped in. "You wonder why they put all their hopes on Majesty instead of me and Moondancer."

"But our fight mostly started when I kept criticizing Firefly for getting parts of the routine wrong," Medley said.

Moondancer looked down at the grass for a bit, then looked at Medley with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Forgive me for sounding rude, but I think I know why Firefly zipped out on you like that. From what I've seen, she likes doing things at her own pace and without any limits, kinda like I do. She doesn't like being bogged down by expectations and stuff like that, and from what I've seen recently, I think you have been trying a bit too hard to make Firefly listen to you."

"Moondancer!" Glory exclaimed, appalled by Moondancer's claim just now. "How can you be so bold as to say such a thing?!"

"I'm not trying to be rude!" Moondancer snapped at her sister, then turned back to Medley with her sympathetic look. "I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, Meds. Really, I'm not. But since you say that you and Firefly have often stuck together like glue, I think maybe Firefly wants some time away from you for a while. Now don't get me wrong, I know she likes you a lot, and she knows that you care for her very much and wouldn't let anything bad happen to her...but sometimes, you can only tolerate so much of somepony at a time, and if you're stuck with them for too long, you'll just go buggy. Have you ever felt like that?" Moondancer explained.

Medley looked up at the blue sky and ruminated for a bit. She had to admit, Moondancer had a good point. There were times when Medley wanted some time away from Firefly even though they're best friends. But the only times Medley ever wanted time away from Firefly, or any other pony for that matter, were when she was working on some very grueling work, having a really rough day which caused her to not be in the mood to talk to anypony (which were the rarest of times), or when Firefly was proving to be too tough to handle sometimes. Not only that, Firefly did accuse Medley of treating her like a child, which she hated. Medley looked down sadly and nodded.

"Yes," Medley whispered sadly. Moondancer put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

"Firefly told me she hates being treated like a little filly who can't fly. Maybe that's why she left, because maybe she thought you were trying too hard to protect her or be her mother figure or something. Again, don't get me wrong, I can see why you got all grumpy. You were having a bad morning. We all have them sometimes, and I sure don't blame you. But maybe you should give Firefly time to cool off and calm down for a while. The same goes for you, too," Moondancer told her.

Medley nodded grimly.

"I'm sorry for making you all listen to me whine like this," Medley whimpered.

"Not at all, my dear. Don't ever say such a thing. You're just upset, and it's good to talk about it. It's much better than keeping it all bottled up inside," Majesty told her.

"Yeah! We all have days where we just wanna go _'RAAAAAHHHH!'_ at the whole world even though we know that there are better ways to handle it," Lickety-Split edicted.

"Besides, I have way worse anger issues than you do," Moondancer told her.

"It's true. Moondancer can never go a whole week without putting somepony under a hibernation spell if they so much as eat her flowers," Glory piped in unsympathetically, causing Moondancer to glare at her.

"I don't do it all the time! And do you know how hard I work to grow those flowers?!" Moondancer said.

"Is it true that you have caffeine in your veins instead of blood?" Sunbeam asked out of the blue.

"No! I don't even like coffee!" Moondancer snapped back.

"Me neither. I tried it once, and it tasted horrible! When I get older, I'm never drinking coffee," Lemon Drop said.

Upon seeing her pony friends squabble amongst each other, Medley suddenly found herself laughing a little. Twilight saw this and smiled.

"Are you feeling better now?" Twilight asked once Medley stopped laughing. But as soon as she stopped, her smile faded again. She looked down at the green grass and smoothed it with her front hoof.

"I don't know. I've been kept up all night because of the construction work," Medley whispered a little sadly.

"Anypony who's deprived of sleep can get grumpy and grouchy. It's only natural," Twilight said.

"Unless you're Gusty," Lickety-Split piped in.

"But..." Medley said, letting the sentence fade at first. She then looked at the other ponies again. "I...I really do appreciate you all comforting me like this, and I really do thank you. I realize now that I have been treating Firefly like a child, and I shouldn't have. But...I...since Firefly's gone, I would like to look for her. I want to at least know where she is so I can feel safe and know that she's alright. I won't talk to her or pressure her into practicing again. That won't do me or her or anypony any good. I'll just look at her from a distance, then leave her alone."

All of the ponies looked at each other, then back at Medley, and smiled at her.

"If you want, we can look for her for you. You should probably get some rest since you say you've been sleep deprived," Twilight said as she smoothed Medley's forest green hair a bit with her hoof.

"You'd really do that for a whiner like me?" Medley asked.

"Yeah! You're our friend!" Sunbeam piped in. "And you're not a whiner. Shady whines way more than you do!"

"Sunbeam, you should know better than to say things like that about other ponies," Majesty said.

"How about this! Maybe I can put you under a temporary spell that'll keep you asleep for about a few hours unless I personally undo it while the rest of us go and look for Firefly. How's that?" Moondancer said.

"A spell to keep me asleep?" Medley asked.

"Yes. I've often had to put Moondancer to sleep with my magic when she was little, and she just managed to get the spell just right, so I think it'll really help you," Glory said.

Medley crossed her hooves and ruminated for about a minute, then turned to the others with a smile. "Alright. I'll take you up on your offer. Thanks so much for offering to help me like this, even though I don't deserve it."

"Don't say it like that, Meds!" Twilight piped in. "We all have our little trials and tribulations here and there, so it's no problem!"

"How about you sleep under that tree over there?" Sunbeam pointed to one of the big, leafy trees by the lake. A little grove of colorful wildflowers sat under it. "The leaves are so big, it'll protect you from the sun's extra heat, and the flowers are nice, so it's perfect!"

"I agree," Medley said.

The group of ponies ambled over to the big tree with the patch of flowers under it. Medley gently descended into the flower patch and positioned herself in a good position. Since Moondancer is the one who suggested putting Medley under a temporary sleeping spell, she decided to take the liberty and do it herself. Once Medley was in position, Moondancer closed her eyes and concentrated deeply. After about a few seconds, a red light came out from her white horn. Then, a slew of red musical notes floated aimlessly out of her horn, floating right toward Medley. Once they reached her green ears, Medley found herself becoming drowsy. The spell is working. Once she found herself unable to keep her eyes open, she fell into the flower grove, fast asleep. The spell worked! Moondancer stopped her magic, opened her blue eyes, and smiled brightly.

"Hey! It worked!" Moondancer said.

"That was pretty cool," Lemon Drop said.

"Let's leave her be while we look for Firefly," Glory told them.

"I agree," Twilight said as she flew away.

"If you ponies don't mind, I'll stay with Medley in case anything happens," Sunbeam told them.

"That's fine," Majesty said.

The group of ponies decided to scatter so they can try and find Firefly in different areas of town. Twilight decided to search from above since she can fly. Moondancer and Lemon Drop decided to look around town. Glory decided to remain in the rural areas in case Firefly is still practicing her routine, and Lickety-Split decided to ask around. Unfortunately, Majesty had to be summoned back home for some business, so she had to drop out of the search. Yes, Majesty was quite disappointed by this. Oddly enough, finding Firefly is proving to be a much more difficult task than anticipated. About an hour and a half passed, but no sign of Firefly anywhere.

"Jeez! You'd think finding a pink pegasus with blue hair and two lightning bolts for a cutie mark would be the easiest thing in the world!" Lemon Drop complained a little as she sipped a glass of lemonade with a straw.

"How can anyone miss a pony like Firefly? She's so hard to miss, you'd have to be blind to NOT see her!" Moondancer said.

"I wonder how the others are faring?" Lemon Drop asked as she drank more fresh lemonade.

"Man! If I mastered that pony finding spell right now, this would be a great time to use it," Moondancer whimpered as she looked up at the sky. A pony finding spell is where a unicorn uses magic to find a pony's location and track them down. But it's a hard spell to master, even by the best unicorns. Glory and Majesty haven't mastered it, even though they've been practicing really hard, and Moondancer fared no better. But as it would turn out, they wouldn't need such a complicated spell.

"Moondancer! Lemon Drop!"

Moondancer was the first to recognize the voice.

"Bow Tie?"

Yes, running up to them in a frenzy are Bow Tie and another unicorn! This unicorn has pale blue fur, much lighter than Bow Tie's sea blue fur, and a curly dark purple mane and tail both styled in the same way as Glory's, only they both have a pink streak in them. She also has indigo eyes, long, thick eye lashes, and three royal blue diamonds on both sides of her flank. Both Bow Tie and the unicorn are looking quite perturbed and frantic.

"Hey Sparkler! Haven't seen you in a while!" Lemon Drop said.

"We-We-We must tell you! We saw Firefly!" The unicorn, Sparkler, said in a voice like Glory's, but slightly higher pitched. Moondancer and Lemon Drop looked at each other, then back at them.

"You saw Firefly?!" Moondancer yelped.

"Yes. We would have told you earlier, but other affairs prevented us from doing so. We're terribly sorry," Sparkler said, looking a little glum.

"Me too. I had to help my sister around the house," Bow Tie said.

"So where's Firefly?" Lemon Drop asked.

"That's just it," Bow Tie said. "You're not gonna believe this! We both saw Firefly zip into...into...the _Forsaken Wood_!" Bow Tie blurted out finally, looking quite timorous as she uttered the name of the place Firefly zipped into.

Moondancer and Lemon Drop were stunned.

"The F-F-F-Forsaken Wood?" Moondancer asked, her voice quivering.

"Yes. We both called out to her, but she didn't hear us," Sparkler said.

"This is big! We've gotta tell everypony about this!" Lemon Drop hoofed Moondancer on the back, snapping her out of her fear.

"Alright. I'll use a telepathy spell to contact them!" Moondancer exclaimed.

"Mind if I help you out? My magic is good for things of this caliber," Sparkler said as she gently tapped Moondancer's horn with her own.

Moondancer's horn glowed in a faint red light while Sparkler's did so in a pale purple light. Both unicorns closed their eyes solemnly and were rendered silent as the magic began to take effect. Bow Tie and Lemon Drop watched.

"Unicorns are so cool, aren't they?" Lemon Drop asked.

"I wish I was a unicorn like my father and sister," Bow Tie whispered.

Moondancer knew what she wanted to say, and she was determined to get the message out. Once she managed to reach the minds of the ponies she wanted to contact, she made the connection.

_"Everypony! It's Moondancer! Bow Tie and Sparkler said that Firefly went into the Forsaken Wood! Let's meet at the lake so we can decide what to do!"_

After a short while, the connection was severed, and the magic faded away. Moondancer and Sparkler opened their eyes again.

"Don't telepathy spells take a lot of energy out of unicorns?" Bow Tie asked curiously.

"Only if you try to give them a message that's more than one sentence and if you use too much magic. Sparkler helped me out so I'm not tired at all," Moondancer said. "Thanks Sparkler!"

"You're very welcome. I'm also sad to say that I'm afraid I can't help you with the search. My magic isn't used for fighting, and I have some jewels I have to import by tonight," Sparkler told them.

"That's okay! You were a great help! Bye!" Moondancer, Lemon Drop, and Bow Tie told her as they all left for the lake. Sparkler, feeling accomplished, left as well.

Lots of questions were running through the ponies' minds: Why did Firefly go to Forsaken Wood of all places?

She went there to do nothing but...sulk.

Forsaken Wood is...well, forsaken. It's trees are covered with huge, dark, ruddy leaves in all dark colors, even black. The branches are covered with long, sharp, prickly thorns that could render a pegasus flightless if they weren't careful. The leaves are so thick, they can block out the entire sky and there wouldn't be a single trace of light. It would be complete darkness in here. Poison ivy is basically an abundance here in this dark, dreary, scary place. Large, sharp, white rocks protruded out from the ground, some as tall as the trees themselves. Strange creatures live in this creepy place, some so scary that ponies have fled just from the sight of their glowing eyes. The soil isn't exactly fertile, and it's definitely not the most pleasant thing to fall in when it rains, as the brown coating can get all over ponies and make them feel sticky if it rains especially hard. But Firefly had been in this strange forest lots of times before, so she knew it from the back of her hoof. Right now, all she's doing is sitting on the very top of a very tall tree, with her hooves crossed and her face contorted with frustration.

She thought about Medley and how critical she had become. Firefly knew that Medley had the tendency to be overbearing and a bit of a control freak sometimes, often rarely, but never had she seen Medley act the way she did earlier. She practically treated Firefly like a child! If there's anything Firefly hates, it's being treated like a helpless, flightless little pegasus filly who has to be protected on a regular basis. She had to deal with this quite a lot when she was a filly herself, and she just hated it. Just the memories of those times made her whinny and growl angrily. She's so frustrated right now that she didn't even realize where she was. She continued to sulk and stare at the sky above. She heard some black crows cawing in the distance and the howls of wolves, but she failed to pay much attention to them as she continued to be long in her own angst.

"Who does Medley think she is anyway? My mom? Jeez! Is she EVER going to stop treating me like a foal?! I'm so sick and tired of it! Who cares if she means well?! I'm doing the trick just fine no thanks to her!" Firefly bellowed as she continued to sulk. After about a few minutes, her pink ears caught the sound of something familiar.

"Heeeeey! Firefly!" A mature voice called out to her.

Turning around so she could face the direction of the voice, she saw a white pegasus flying toward her. A rather spindly-legged pegasus like Skydancer, only slightly plumper in stature and complexion. The white pegasus's mane and tail are short and arranged in a strange style, both in all the colors of the rainbow. She has stunning blue eyes like Glory and has a gold, eight-pointed star surrounded by spots on both sides of her flank. Firefly, upon seeing the white, rainbow-haired pegasus fly before her, immediately popped out of her grumpy mood and her eyes widened in delight.

"Hey! Starshine!" Firefly exclaimed as she flew into the air and high hoofed the white pegasus pony, Starshine, happily.

"Firefly! It's been such a long time! How's my prized pupil doing today?" Starshine cried out in a nice voice, though sounding a little tomboyish. She looked around, then looked back at Firefly with a confused look. "What are you doing all the way out here in Forsaken Wood?"

"Huh?! The Forsaken Wood?" Firefly looked around herself just like Starshine did and noticed the very dreary scenery. She was shocked. "Whoa! You're right! I _AM_ in the Forsaken Wood! I can't believe I never realized I was here!" Firefly then turned back to Starshine. "So...what exactly are YOU doing here?"

"I was just on my way back from a press conference in Las Pegasus," Starshine said. She then looked at Firefly's face more closely. "You look like you haven't had the best of days."

Firefly immediately slumped back onto the tree with her hooves crossed. "Tell me about it!"

Starshine sat next to her. "What happened?"

"Medley's been getting on my nerves. See, we're going to partake in the talent competition this week, and Medley's just been on my case about it all morning! She keeps criticizing parts of my tricks, but I'm doing it just fine! Worse than that, she keeps on treating me like a flightless filly and WOULD NOT shut up about it!" Firefly explained angrily. "I'm so sick and tired of her acting like my mom!"

After a short pause, Starshine spoke. "That's not like her, is it?"

"No," Firefly said.

After another pause, Starshine looked up at the sky and ruminated, then turned back to Firefly. "Did you notice any circles under her eyes?" Starshine asked.

"Huh? Circles?" Firefly asked, a little confused by Starshine's question, then ruminated again. "Hmmm. Yeah! I did notice some. Why?"

Starshine crossed her spindly forelegs and smiled a bit. "So my suspicions are correct after all. Usually, the only times when Medley would be in a fussy, grumpy mood like that is when she's having a REALLY bad morning, especially when deprived of sleep."

"Ugh. You're right. She DOES get fussy when she's deprived of sleep. Don't get me started on the last time she didn't get any sleep," Firefly complained.

"Sleep is important for anypony's health," Starshine said with a smile at first, then turned solemn. "Firefly...I know you're upset, but Medley really does care for you, and she just wants you to be happy. I mean, you're the best thing that ever happened to her!"

Firefly suddenly found herself leaving her sulky spell and began thinking of what Starshine just said. Medley had often told Firefly that she was the best thing that ever happened to her, and Firefly knew this very well. Unlike Firefly, who's a natural daredevil and social butterfly, Medley was downright timid, constantly afraid of things, and anti-social to the point that she'd hide in a closet whenever anypony came into the same house with her. But whenever the two were together, they practically blossomed. Medley became more open and willing to take more risks despite the danger, and Firefly learned to think before she acted, even though she still tends to forget sometimes.

"You're right about that. I even remember the day we first met," Firefly said.

"Actually, I think I should confess something about the day you two met. But I'll let you go first," Starshine told her.

All of a sudden, the two pegasi were flying down the cloudy path that was memory lane.

(flashback)

_A group of small pegasi foals were gathered on one big fluffy cloud with some older pegasi, both parents and teachers. Firefly was one of them, being a bright pink, blue-haired filly with shining purple eyes and no lightning bolts on her flank. She stood in front of two pegasi. One has the exact same color scheme as her, only her hair is much curlier and is more purple in shade. The older pegasus mare has blue eyes and a purple lightning bolt on both sides of her flank. The other pegasus is white and very bulky, with short but spiky lightning blue hair and tail, purple eyes, and a yellow bird with a pale blue lightning bolt on both sides of his flank. Little Firefly zipped around the place happily, surprising a few foals in the process._

_"Wow! I'm here! Flight camp is finally here! Thank you, Mama and Papa!" Firefly exclaimed happily as she went to hug her mother and father._

_"We're so happy you got accepted here. Now you be a good girl, okay?" The pink pegasus, Firefly's mother, told her gently. Firefly nodded. But her father didn't seem to buy it._

_"She means it, Firefly. You better behave yourself and don't break anything and don't get in trouble!" The white pegasus, Firefly's father, told her strictly. Firefly's mother smacked him on the back with her hoof._

_"Oh, don't be so uptight, Thunderbird! This is a great opportunity for Firefly to make new friends and finally be one step closer to her dream. Let's be proud of her for once, dear," The pink pegasus told her husband, Thunderbird._

_"But Lightning Bug! I don't want our filly to get in any more trouble than she already has! I don't want her to be expelled like last time," Thunderbird told his relaxed wife, Lightning Bug._

_"I don't think that'll be a problem. The teachers here are great, and I'm sure Firefly can learn a lot," Lightning Bug told her worried husband. Firefly didn't seem to notice. Lightning Bug then approached her happy daughter._

_"We'll be leaving now, Firefly. We'll be sure to visit when we can. Tell us all about your new friends and new flying tricks, and be sure to be good for us. Okay, dearie?" Lightning Bug told her._

_"Yes, Mama! I can't wait to show you the new stuff I can do!" Firefly chirped happily._

_Her parents said goodbye to their daughter and flew away. Firefly did feel a little sad seeing them leave, but she couldn't wait to begin her new adventures in flight camp. She could make friends, fly around whenever she wanted, and even perform death-defying tricks no other pegasus would be able to do! She couldn't wait to begin flight camp! But something else caught her ears._

_"Nooooo!"_

_A high, young voice caught Firefly's attention. When she turned around, she saw a very small, green pegasus filly clinging to what appears to be her father's leg, crying and begging tearfully. Like Firefly, she doesn't have a cutie mark yet, and the male pegasus looked quite worried as he tried to pry his crying daughter off of his leg. Another pegasus, possibly her mother, Firefly couldn't tell, watched. The father has green fur, and darker green hair, green eyes, and a violin on both sides of his flank. The other pegasus has yellow fur, green hair, green eyes, and a torch with a brightly lit flame on her flank._

_"Noooo! I don't wanna be here! Don't leave me!" The little green filly cried and bawled passionately. Finally, her father managed to pry her off of her leg and kneeled before her._

_"Medley, dear. You shouldn't be afraid. This'll be a great opportunity for you. You'll get to make friends and finally learn how to fly," Her father told his daughter, but she just wouldn't listen._

_"But they'll hate me, and I can't fly! I can't fly, and I never will! I'm afraid of flying!" The little green pegasus, Medley, howled passionately. Her mother sighed in what Firefly could see was a disapproving and disappointed manner._

_"Medley. Please don't be so down on yourself. Have some faith! I'm sure you'll make lots of friends and be able to fly. Just give it a try. You never know. We'll come back when we can," The father told her kindly._

_"But Papa-" Medley tried to cry again, but this time her mother interrupted her._

_"Just SHUT UP, WILL YOU?!" The yellow pegasus screamed angrily, frightening the already scared Medley even further. This made her father angry._

_"Torchlight! That's no way to talk to your baby sister!" The green pegasus yelled. So this Torchlight isn't Medley's mother, but her sister. The older sister, Torchlight, obviously didn't look happy._

_"But Dad! She screams about every little thing every single day! She can never shut up for even a second! Just face it! She's a lost cause! She'll never fly, and she'll always be a stupid little crybaby!" Torchlight argued._

_"Torchlight! I don't ever want to hear that come out of your mouth ever again! When we get home, we're going to have a talk, and I don't want you giving me any attitude, either!" The father argued, scaring Medley. He saw this and went to comfort her._

_"I'm sorry, dear. We have to leave now. We'll definitely come back soon, I promise," The green pegasus said._

_"No, Papa! I wanna go home with you!" Medley cried. It broke his heart to see his youngest daughter so sad, with huge globs of tears literally pouring out of her big blue eyes, but he knew this would be good for her, and he had to leave._

_"Goodbye, my sweet," The green pegaus said as he and Torchlight left. Although Medley stopped crying, Firefly watched from a distance, and could tell that she was obviously very dejected and heartbroken inside. Worse than that, that mean pegasus Torchlight called her stupid! There was no way Firefly was going to forgive that! Firefly was about to talk to her, but the bell rang and they had to go to their first day of lessons._

_About a day after that, Firefly was practicing doing backflips and loops in the sky when she saw the timorous green pegasus filly, Medley, trying to fly into a cloud circle, but once she got out, she suddenly fell despite flapping her wings desperately. Firefly was about to save her, but she saw that she fell on top of a colt with dark brown fur and red hair. While Firefly was happy that he broke her fall, what happened afterward made her blood boil. Once Medley got off of the colt, she tried to apologize to him._

_"I-I-I'm...sorry-"_

_"Watch where you're flying, you klutzy brainless crybaby!" The brown colt yelled. Suddenly, without mercy and with great force, he kicked the poor, defenseless green filly with his back hooves, throwing her against a cloud._

_"YEEEK!" Medley fell on the clouds, feeling battered as the brown colt, along with his two friends, suddenly surrounding her._

_Firefly was just appalled. _'Whoa! How can that colt be so cruel?! It was an accident! I've gotta tell someone about this!'_ Firefly thought, but then she saw them picking on her and throwing insults at her._

_"Why don't you just go back to where you came from already?! You're the biggest scaredy-cat crybaby filly we've ever seen! You're making us look bad! You can't even fly! Isn't that stupid!"_

_"Yeah! You're a little weakling!"_

_"My baby sister can fly better than you!"_

'You know what?! That tears it! I'm going in!'_ Firefly thought. There was no way she was going to tolerate these bullies picking on poor Medley like that! Courage blazed in her heart like a tree being caught on fire after it had been struck by lightning. Firefly, not wanting to see poor Medley suffer anymore, decided to take matters into her own hooves. She zipped between Medley and the three colts and stared daggers at them with her purple eyes._

_"Leave her alone, you big bullies!" Firefly screamed for the entire camp to hear. Some heads turned towards the quintet, but nopony really did anything. Medley opened her eyes to see Firefly right in front of her._

_"What's your problem?" The blue-furred colt asked._

_"You shouldn't be mean to someone just because they happened to fall on your back! It was an accident! You shouldn't make such a big deal out of it!" Firefly yelled angrily._

_"What's it to you, pinky?!" The red-furred colt asked._

_"Yeah! Besides, why stick up for this crybaby here? She's the stupidest pegasus we've ever met! She can't even fly even though she's old enough to do so! Don't waste your time on this disgrace!" The brown-furred colt told her, but Firefly wasn't going to be put down._

_"Just because she can't fly yet doesn't make her stupid! We all start off flightless, and I'm sure a whole lot of your couldn't fly until later in life, too! I'm sure Medley can fly someday, so lay off!" Firefly yelled._

_"Quit talkin' big, pinky!" The brown-furred colt said until someone stepped into the fray._

_"What's going on here?"_

_A tall, white adult pegasus with rainbow-colored hair, spindly legs, and blue eyes appeared on the scene. Firefly wasted absolutely no time in telling her everything._

_"These big bullies are picking on Medley and calling her stupid because she can't fly and because she fell on him by accident!" Firefly exclaimed._

_"Why you snitchin' on me?!" The brown colt yelled._

_"Is this true?" The white adult pegasus asked sternly._

_"YES!" Firefly piped in._

_"Come on! That green filly's the biggest disgrace in the world! She can't fly and is afraid of everything! Don't you think that's stupid?" The blue colt asked._

_"We don't bully other pegasi here in this place! I want all three of you to come with me to the principal's office!" The white pegasus told them._

_"But-"_

_"No buts! March!"_

_Seeing that it was futile to contradict her, the three male colts walked away with the rainbow-haired pegasus following them...but not before turning to Firefly, smiling at her a little, and winking at her. Firefly wondered what this meant, but she then looked down at Medley, who, oddly enough, managed to stand up fully and even manage eye contact with Firefly. The pink pegasus was surprised to find that the green pegasus here turned out to be quite cute, with a plump face, a plump body, plump curls in her forest green hair, big, wide, sky blue eyes that seem to be full of expression, and her cute little wings._

_"Th-Thank you..." Medley whimpered in one of the cutest voices Firefly had ever heard. Her voice was high and soft, like fur on a newborn kitten, and it sounded like a little bell._

_"Don't worry about it. You're Medley, right?" Firefly asked. The shy, green pegasus nodded._

_"Hi! I'm Firefly! Wanna play?" Firefly asked as she hopped in front of her, which made Medley stumble away from her out of surprise. All of a sudden, the two fillies started chasing each other around, with Firefly often chasing after a continuously timorous Medley, who always kept running away from her._

_It wasn't until a few days later that things really started to get set in motion._

_Because of an internship program, Firefly's class got a new student teacher named Starshine. Yes, the same pony who took the bullies to the principal's office. She proved to be quite popular among the little pegasi foals, with her upbeat, cheerful nature, her advanced flying skills, her wild and wacky hair and tail, and her knack for making mundane tasks seem quite fun. Even the timorously shy and timid Medley warmed up to her, but not enough to fully trust her completely. But one one fateful day, Starshine announced that the class will be thrown into groups for a project._

_"I'll be putting you all into groups of two for the lesson, and don't you dare ask me for a change, because once you're paired with your partner, you're sticking with him or her for the entire season!" Starshine announced. Some foals groaned with the possibility of not being able to be with their friends. Starshine read through some names and paired the pegasi foals up one by one._

_"Pair number six, Firefly and Medley!" Starshine edicted._

_"WHAT?!" Both Firefly and Medley yelped in perfect unison, shocked that they're going to be paired up._

_But oddly enough, it proved to be the best thing that ever happened to them. Firefly and Medley turned out to complement each other very well. Medley kept Firefly on the ground when she felt it was needed, and Firefly helped Medley take some risks and fly. Medley became much better at flying because of her, Starshine, and another pegasus filly named Twilight. Then, on a special outside class presentation day, Firefly and Medley performed quite the feat in front of everyone. While Medley played instruments like the violin and the flute, and very well at that, Firefly managed to perform her signature move, the Thundersprint, where she flew so fast that she made blue lightning bolts appear from her body. Sparks literally flew that day, and Firefly made it happen. Firefly and Medley managed to get an A, and they rejoiced. But it wasn't the only thing they rejoiced about._

_"Look! You both got cutie marks!" The filly named Twilight exclaimed._

_Firefly and Medley both looked at their flanks and were surprised and joyful at the same time! They managed to earn their cutie marks! Firefly has two blue lightning bolts while Medley has dark green musical notes. Firefly and Medley hugged each other happily and rejoiced._

(end flashback)

"...I still can't believe we both got our cutie marks at the exact same time!" Firefly said, finishing her tale.

"You certainly surprised me! I'm still kind of surprised I managed to help you get to where you are today by pairing you up!" Starshine piped in.

Firefly stopped talking and became confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Starshine flipped some of her mane out of her face. "I guess it's time to confess."

(flashback)

_Starshine and another older male pegasus happened to be in a room full of books, talking amongst each other in not exactly the most friendly manner. The older pegasus has dark grey fur, lighter grey hair, brilliant rosy red eyes, large hooves, large, bulky wings, glasses, and a lighter grey cloud with a yellow lightning bolt on both sides of his flank. Starshine didn't look too happy talking with him._

_"Principal Storm Cloud, I think Firefly and Medley should be together for the lesson," Starshine told the older male pegasus, Storm Cloud, who didn't look too happy._

_"Firefly and Medley? Together? Poppycock! Do you know how much trouble would happen if they were together? Firefly's already broken two statues in her first week alone and can never seem to sit still, and Medley's much too weak-willed to even fly a foot above the ground and is always hiding!" Storm Cloud told her strictly. "And who are you to tell me how to do my job? You're merely a student teacher."_

_"That may be, sir, but please reconsider your decision. I saw Firefly stick up for Medley yesterday and they got along great. I think those two would complement each other well. Medley can keep Firefly on the ground when she feels it's needed, and Firefly can help her face her fears. I think great things can happen if they work together for this lesson," Starshine explained. "I can even take responsibility for them if anything goes wrong."_

_"You will?" Storm Cloud asked as he adjusted his glasses sternly._

_Starshine nodded solemnly. "I think those two hold great potential, and I believe that being together can bring it out!"_

_Storm Cloud looked at a clip board while Starshine waited impatiently while trying to keep her mouth shut. Storm Cloud adjusted his glasses a bit and looked at her._

_"Skydancer was right about you. Once you have an idea in your head, you won't stop until you see it through. Now I can see why she trusts you so much," Storm Cloud said. "Alright. I'll have you pair Firefly and Medley together and record their progress. But you'll be the only one taking responsibility for them if any trouble happens."_

_Starshine beamed happily. "Oh, thank you, Principal Storm Cloud! I'll do my very best!"_

_"But don't give them any special treatment either. I don't want anypony thinking somepony else has it better than the rest of them."_

_"Oh, don't worry. I don't know the meaning of the word preferential treatment! To me, all ponies are equal!" Starshine said with a bright smile as she darted off and away from Storm Cloud's office._

(end flashback)

"...so you made me and Medley become friends on purpose? You _set us up_?!" Firefly asked, sounding as though she's interrogating her mentor, surprised by this new revelation.

"YES!" Starshine edicted impishly, feeling proud of her confession. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

"I can't believe you, Starshine! You're gonna get it now!" Firefly leaped onto Starshine and immediately began playfully torturing her. Both pegasi exploded into paroxysms of laughter.

But searching for Firefly was no laughing manner.

Once the ponies received Moondancer's telepathic message, they all gathered back to the lake. Moondancer, Twilight, Glory, Sunbeam, Lickety-Split, Bow Tie, Bubbles, and Lemon Drop all met at the lake. Once Moondancer found Medley, still sleeping under the tree, she undid the spell and woke Medley up. Thankfully, Medley didn't feel groggy this time.

"What's up? Did you find Firefly?" Medley asked.

"Well, no, but Sparkler and I saw her flying away after your fight. It's terrible! She went into Forsaken Wood!" Bow Tie explained a little fearfully.

"Forsaken Wood?!" Medley yelped in shock. "Wha-Wha-What in the world?! Why would she fly there of all places?!"

"Dunno," Moondancer said. "But that's why I called you all here! I thought maybe we could all decide on whether to go in there or not. If you don't want to, that's fine, but the Forsaken Wood is a pretty dangerous place, and Firefly might have a hard time being stuck in there," Moondancer explained.

Bubbles began trembling. "Forsaken Wood is scary..." Lemon Drop, seeing her fear, gently rubbed her blue hair with her hoof.

"I have to agree with Bubbles. It's not like other forests. The leaves are so thick, they block out all light, and it's pitch black in there unless you have a flashlight or can create light with your horn," Glory said.

"I can create light with my horn! I've practiced!" Sunbeam exclaimed happily.

"Me too. In my personal opinion, I think we should go in and find Firefly. Who knows what's happening to her at this moment," Moondancer said.

"Go in? But it's too dangerous!" Medley exclaimed.

"I know. That's exactly my point. But Firefly might need us," Moondancer told her.

"I say we go," Lickety-Split piped in suddenly. "A good friend of ours might be in danger, and we shouldn't abandon her."

"Lickety-Split!" Glory exclaimed, shocked by Lickety-Split's bold statement. "You actually want to go into a dirty and dark place like that?!"

"It's better than leaving her there, isn't it?" Lickety-Split asked. Glory had to admit she had a good point.

"Well, if somepony as hyper as Lickety-Split has the guts to go into the Forsaken Wood, then count me in too," Lemon Drop said.

"Allow me to join in as well. I'm good at fighting, so maybe I can hold off some monsters in there when the time is needed," Bow Tie said.

"Maybe we should grab other ponies for the search, too? Y'know, like Wind Whistler or Lofty or Fizzy or Powder or Starflower or Magic Star or North Star or-" Bubbles suggested, but Lemon Drop cut her off.

"I don't think we should involve them. We shouldn't attract any unwanted attention," Lemon Drop told her.

"I agree. I don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble," Glory said.

"But the more ponies we take with us, the better the search will be, right?" Bow Tie asked.

"Yeah! And North Star's navigational skills and sense of direction are great! She's been in the Forsaken Wood before, hasn't she?" Lickety-Split asked.

"That may be, but even she doesn't like going in there," Twilight said. "But since Firefly could be in danger, I'll go too."

As the ponies talked amongst themselves, Medley ruminated. Firefly went into the Forsaken Wood! Medley knew that Firefly had gone in there lots of times before, and there were times when she had trouble, but she managed to come out safe and sound. But Medley had her doubts in regards to Firefly's safety. She didn't want her to be running around in a dangerous place like that. But then she remembered Firefly accusing her of treating her like a child. Medley didn't want to go in there and create more conflict between them. For her, this most recent one is bad enough, and Medley wanted more than anything to refrain from exacerbating it any more than she already has. But Forsaken Wood is a dangerous and dark place that not even the bravest of ponies (sans Firefly, North Star, and other ponies) would enter without proper preparation. Medley didn't want to abandon Firefly.

"I'll go."

Once they heard Medley's soft voice, all of the ponies turned to look at her.

"What was that, Medley?" Bubbles asked shyly.

"I'll go to the Forsaken Wood," Medley told them in a solemn whisper.

"WHAAAAT?!" Literally all of the ponies yelped with surprise. Medley is actually wanting to take a huge and dangerous risk.

"Medley! I never expected you to actually say something like that!" Glory exclaimed.

"You wanna go into that scary place?" Bubbles asked, sounding a little frightened.

"You usually never want to do anything dangerous," Moondancer said.

"Exactly," Medley said. "Firefly's often told me that I need to take more risks...and considering that her life may be in danger, I'll be more than willing to take this risk and go into the Forsaken Wood and at least check on her. I want to know she's safe, and I don't want to exacerbate our conflict more than I already have. Firefly's my friend, and I don't want to abandon her."

"Spoken like a true friend, Meds!" Twilight exclaimed happily while doing a loop.

Glory flipped her mane out of her face. "If you'll go, Medley, then I'll go too. I wish Majesty could come too so we could have more help, but she has affairs she needs to attend to."

"Alright! All in favor of going into Forsaken Wood, say I!" Moondancer edicted and raised her hoof.

"I!" Everypony raised their hoof high in the air.

But that became something that surprised them. Everypony raised their hoof.

"Bubbles?!" Lemon Drop exclaimed, seeing that Bubbles has her hoof raised as well.

"You actually want to come too?" Moondancer asked.

"I-I-I'll go," Bubbles stammered.

"But you're afraid of the Forsaken Wood, aren't you? You don't have to come if you don't want to," Medley told her in her soothing voice.

"Yeah. We're not forcing you in any way," Twilight told her.

"I know, but...Firefly's my friend too. I want...to be brave and strong. Just like her, so...I'll go with you!" Bubbles explained while stammering a little.

"Alrighty! Then it's settled! Let's meet back here in an hour! Everyone, go back home and prepare for his trip well, as it'll be pretty dangerous!" Moondancer edicted.

Everypony nodded in agreement and proceeded to go back home and prepare for a dangerous and terrifying trip into the Forsaken Wood. Nopony knew what would be in there or what trouble they'd be in, but they knew they had to take the risk for Firefly's sake, and Medley didn't want to leave their conflict unresolved, so she decided to prepare as well.

They had no idea that the Forsaken Wood would be more dangerous than they expected it to be, even with their preparation.


	3. Into The Forsaken Wood

Chapter 3: Into The Forsaken Wood

About an hour after Moondancer's announcement, all the ponies who knew about Firefly's going into the Forsaken Wood arrived at the entrance, with Moondancer being the first who ever got there. Medley, Bow Tie, Glory, Twilight, Sunbeam, Bubbles, Lemon Drop, and Lickety-Split all arrived. Medley, Glory, Twilight, Bubbles, and Lemon Drop all have saddle bags on them containing items they thought were needed to journey into the dreary Forsaken Wood with. The sun continued to hang in the sky, shining bright onto the world below, lighting everything up with its golden glow. Moondancer stood in front of them, proud and tall, with her spindly legs straight and firm.

"Alright, everypony! Now that we're all here, I must advise you that going into the Forsaken Wood is going to be no easy task. Lots of ferocious and dangerous creatures live there, and there's poisonous plants growing all over the place, so we have to absolutely be careful about where we step and stay together at all costs!" Moondancer edicted, her voice loud and lucid.

"I brought a few tubes of cream that can combat poison ivy and other ailments caused by plants from the Forsaken Wood," Medley said as she pulled some small tubes out of her saddlebag and showed them to Moondancer, who smiled upon seeing the green pegasus's selection.

"That's great, Meds!" Moondancer said with praise.

"I brought helmets with lights on them in case the lights of the unicorns burn out," Twilight said as she put on a slightly rustic silver helmet with a light on her head and turned it on. The light on it shined quite brightly. "I brought batteries for them too, in case they go out."

"Nice job, Twilight! That'll be very useful!" Moondancer exclaimed.

"I've been perfecting my fighting skills," Bow Tie said as she demonstrated some kicks with her back legs and chops with her front legs.

"Excellent work, Bow Tie. We might end up fighting some ferocious creatures, so we need all the help we can get," Moondancer said.

"I brought my mother's first aid kit with me in case anypony gets hurt!" Lickety-Split piped in, showing everypony a white box with a red cross on it.

"So did I," Medley and Glory both said at the same time.

"Bubbles and I couldn't decide what to bring for this trip, so we just kind of went with blow horns," Lemon Drop said as she pulled two blow horns out of Bubbles' saddle bag.

"Huh?! Blow horns?!" Lickety-Split, Glory, and Medley all exclaimed, looking at each other with shocked and confused faces, then turning back to Bubbles and Lemon Drop.

"Why did you bring blow horns? Won't they attract too much attention?" Medley asked, a little surprised by Lemon Drop's decision (Medley knew right away that the whole thing was Lemon Drop's idea. She knows for a fact that Bubbles hates loud noise and would never even think of coming into contact with blow horns).

"Not if you want to use it to scare monsters away when they're about to eat you! Don't worry! We'll only use these as a last resort option. I know Bubbles hates it, but we might need them if we end up either getting lost or about to get eaten by monsters," Lemon Drop explained.

Moondancer looked at Lemon Drop for a bit, then smiled. "A little unorthodox, but I'll allow it, just so long as you ONLY use it for an emergency!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lemon Drop exclaimed brightly, feeling like a soldier who has been praised by his general for a noble deed.

Glory turned to Medley with an uneasy look on her face. "I can't say that I approve of this idea, and I'm especially surprised Moondancer is even giving approval for it," Glory told her, looking very uncertain.

"I know how you feel. I also don't think it's a good idea, but Lemon Drop never goes back on her word, so perhaps she will only use them for emergencies. Besides, we're already putting ourselves in enough trouble as it is," Medley whispered back to Glory, also feeling very uncertain and uneasy. "Not only that, maybe it'll help us get closer to Firefly."

"I'm just hoping we get this done quickly so we won't get in any trouble," Glory whispered. "Not only that, I'm not sure if I approve of Moondancer leading this trip."

"Why? She knows the risks and is willing to take responsibility if things go wrong," Medley asked. Medley knew from experience that while Moondancer isn't exactly the best pony in the world, she's definitely reliable and responsible.

"Yes, and while I do exalt her for being dependable and responsible, she does tend to be a little too reckless at times. There have just been too many incidents where she took on a leadership role and wound up getting not just herself, but everyone else into trouble," Glory said, a little dubious about Moondancer and their current situation.

Medley had to admit, Glory had a point. Medley remembered a time when the ponies went exploring in a cave one. One of the ponies who accompanied them, a chatterbox pegasus pony named Whizzer, angered Moondancer so much that she wound up shooting magic at the cave and causing rocks to trap them in the cave for quite a long while. Since Moondancer was the only unicorn among them at the time, it was hard to get out, but in the end, she realized her mistake and got the ponies out. Medley was among the ponies who were trapped and she knew that both Whizzer and Moondancer were at fault for the cave incident, but Moondancer helped them get out as well, and Medley had to admit, if it weren't for Moondancer, then they wouldn't have gotten out. Medley did believe in Moondancer and help her get over her anger, so she knew that the red-haired unicorn was capable of fixing her mistakes, though she had to admit that she did agree with Glory.

"That is true. Moondancer does get reckless at times, but not always. She always takes it upon herself to learn the risks and consequences of her actions, takes full responsibility for things that happen under her watch, and makes sure that everyone gets out safely. I understand you're worried about her, Glory. Believe me, I am too. But we shouldn't have any doubts in this situation. We should believe in her, and everypony else here. We're not alone, y'know?" Medley told her kindly. Glory smiled and nodded politely.

Moondancer stomped her hoof into the ground. "This journey isn't for the weak! All of you need to _step up your game!_" Moondancer exclaimed, putting great emphasis on the last four words, further exacerbating Glory and Medley's concerns.

"Oh my," Glory muttered.

"I'm ready to step up my game!" Sunbeam piped in with a bright, flashing smile.

"Me too!" Lickety-Split backed her up.

"So am I! Bring it on, ferocious creatures!" Lemon Drop said with a spec of cockiness in her voice.

"Let's do this!" Bow Tie exclaimed.

"I'm glad you all are so enthusiastic, but we shouldn't be cocky in this situation," Medley told them.

"Medley's got a point. We absolutely MUST be careful. This is the Forsaken Wood we're going into, and it is NOT to be taken lightly. Not at all," Twilight advised calmly.

"They're right. The Forsaken Wood has all kinds of dangers, and we have to be on our guard the whole time we're in there!" Moondancer said.

"Question!" Lickety-Split piped in.

"Yes?" Moondancer asked.

"Do any other ponies know that we're going in there?"

"The only ponies who know about our trip are Fizzy, Majesty, and Sparkler, but they promised not to tell anypony so I think we can trust them," Moondancer replied.

"They're all unicorns," Bubbles murmured to nopony in particular.

"That's right, Bubbles," Twilight said with a nod, as she heard Bubbles' random statement just now.

"Alright! Now that everypony's here, let's go into the Forsaken Wood!" Moondancer exclaimed.

"YEAH!" Everyone raised their hooves in the air.

Of course, as soon as they approached the entrance, it turned out to be pitch black all the way down.

"Sunbeam and Glory! Lights, please!" Moondancer told them.

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Sunbeam exclaimed happily as she closed her eyes and thought of making her horn emit light. In return, her horn glowed in a pale yellow color, like the sun, quickly brightening most of the path. Glory did the same, only her horn glowed in a sea blue color. Moondancer came afterward, with her horn glowing in a rosy reddish pink color. Twilight kept the light on her helmet on for safety.

"I'll cover you guys on the rear so we don't lose light," Twilight said as she went to the back of the line.

"Sunbeam and I will lead the way since our lights are brighter. Follow us and stay on the path at ALL TIMES!" Moondancer told them, putting emphasis on the final sentence. Everypony nodded grimly as they all ventured into the Forsaken Wood.

Despite the light filling the forest, Medley became worried. 'Firefly...oh, I do hope you're alright! Please be alright!' Medley thought as she nervously walked behind Bow Tie and in front of Bubbles, both of whom looked just as nervous as she. But then again, all the ponies on this trip looked pretty nervous.

What the pony group didn't know was that some other pony saw them go into the entrance. It was none other than Sparkler, who happened to be walking by right as they went in. As soon as she saw them go inside, she became worried.

"Oh, I do hope they're alright. If only my magic was strong enough, then I'd be able to help them," Sparkler said out loud. But she would soon realize that she made a huge mistake.

"Help who?"

Sparkler gasped and turned around upon hearing a low, dignified, lady-like voice. She found two ponies, one pegasus and an earth pony. The pegasus is extremely pale blue in color, just like the sky. Her mane and tail are thick, smooth, soft, and a beautiful shade of pale pink. On her flank is a pink whistle. Her lavender eyes and crossed hooves stared down at the apprehensive Sparkler sternly, like a strict authority figure. The earth pony is snow white, with short, frizzy, curly, reddish pink hair, pinker in shade than Moondancer's, and a curly tail, much shorter than the pegasus's straight, smooth tail. Her eyes are ocean blue, and on her flank is a turquoise dove surrounded by small red hearts.

"Whoa! Wind Whistler! Truly! What are you two doing here?!" Sparkler yelped, shocked by their presence. The pegasus, Wind Whistler, descended before Sparkler, looking quite curious. The white earth pony, Truly, approached Sparkler curiously as well.

"What in tarnation, Sparkler?" Truly asked with a very strong, very heavy Southern drawl(1). "What's a pony like you doin' near this dark an' dirty place? This ain't a place for ponies like you, sugarcube! And what was you sayin' earlier about some ponies goin' in 'dere?"

"I have to agree with Truly. It is very out of character of a dignified and sophisticated pony such as yourself to even go within 100 feet of such an ominous and treacherous place like the Forsaken Wood," Wind Whistler told her in a very dignified voice.

"Uh...uh...uh..." Sparkler stammered, not knowing how to respond. "I...I was just passing by! I-"

"Don't you go lyin' to me, missy!" Truly suddenly exclaimed, throwing herself in the anxious unicorn's face with a very stern look. "I know a lie when I see one, and it's darn clear that yer lyin' through yer teeth! You better tell us the truth or you're gonna get it!"

"You shouldn't lie, Sparkler. It's a very nefarious thing to do. We clearly heard you say that you hope they're alright and that if your magic was strong enough, then you'd be able to help them, and it sure isn't something you hear every day either," Wind Whistler told her, looking just as suspicious as Truly is, only she didn't throw herself into Sparkler's face.

Sparkler could feel her legs about to buckle. If she had known Wind Whistler or Truly were going to be passing by, Sparkler would have kept her mouth shut. But then again, being the ponies that they are, they might have found out anyway, and they're very particular around ponies who are telling little white lies, so Sparkler knew that no matter what she did, she was never going to get Truly and Wind Whistler off her case unless she told the truth. But she didn't want to get Moondancer and the others in more trouble, and she promised them that she would keep this a secret. Wind Whistler and Truly were the worst ponies to run into when trying to keep a secret. Sparkler tried to throw them off multiple times, but no matter what she did, the two ponies not once left her alone. They're very persistent, and once they see a secret keeper or a liar, they'll follow her around until she cracked. In the end, Sparkler realized she couldn't keep it from them any longer. In her mind, she apologized to Moondancer and the other ponies.

Speaking of whom, they walked on for quite a while. They couldn't tell for how long because the trees above them have leaves so huge and so thick that they practically blocked off the entire sky, trapping them in like a leafy cave. Not one sunbeam came through the big leaves. Not one. The trees around them are completely black, dark brown, or ruddy red, looking very gnarled. Some of the bark they passed even have claw marks on them, like an animal scratched it or something. They didn't dare stop to look at them. Just being here in this dreary place is scary enough. The plants on both sides of the dirt path looked nice, but nopony knew what they were. They could be poisonous, so they didn't dare approach them. Bubbles even resisted the urge to smell some big, dark blue flowers she saw, heeding the warnings of Medley and Moondancer. The smells around them were so horrid, so noisome, so repulsive, and so unsanitary that it literally made Lickety-Split fall on her rump.

"UGH! It smells absolutely HORRIBLE!" Lickety-Split wailed as she tried to push her hooves into her nose to block out the smell.

"I have to agree. This noisome odor is just utterly horrendous! I wonder how the animals here are able to tolerate this horrid scent on a regular basis," Medley backed Lickety-Split on this one, and so did everypony else.

"I wish I brought some air freshener," Glory piped in.

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Bow Tie muttered.

"You're _gonna_ be sick? I think I'm _already_ sick!" Lemon Drop bellowed.

"Ewww," Bubbles said.

"We have to keep moving, everypony! Firefly's our top priority at this time!" Moondancer told them as she beckoned for them to keep going. Despite the horrible aroma giving them all headaches, the ponies continued on.

"I feel like it's getting darker the further we go in," Twilight said.

"That's the Forsaken Wood for you. Dark, dreary, dank, and utterly depressing," Glory said.

"And scary," Bubbles murmured softly.

"It's no wonder everypony hates coming here," Lickety-Split said.

Despite the many depressing things surrounding them, the ponies walked further ahead. All of a sudden, Bubbles suddenly stopped, causing Medley and Bow Tie to run into her, though she didn't fall, which caught the attention of the other ponies.

"Bubbles! Why'd you stop?" Bow Tie asked, trying to suppress her anger.

"Shh! I hear something!" Bubbles hushed the other ponies and looked up.

All the ponies fell silent. The forest would be silent as well...if they didn't suddenly hear the sound of very low but very ferocious growling.

"She's right! I do hear it!" Moondancer exclaimed.

"What do you think it is?" Sunbeam asked.

"I don't know, and I really don't want to find out," Lemon Drop said.

Suddenly, a piercing, bloodcurdling scream popped out from Twilight's mouth, echoing throughout the entire forest.

"GET OFF OF MEEEE!" With a scream, Twilight used her back legs to kick something that put it's claw on her tail. As everypony shined their lights in the opposite direction, they were surprised to see the source of the growling.

Three strange, gnarled looking wolves are behind them, staring at them with ferocious, greenish yellow eyes. Their bodies looked as though they were made of a combination of twigs, gnarled branches, big leaves, and rock. Their teeth are certainly sharp, their claws are clearly not to be taken lightly, their faces are long, big, and ferocious, and the wolves themselves are almost the size of fallen tree logs.

"Wood wolves!" Medley exclaimed.

"Wood wolves?" Glory asked.

"I read about them! Wood wolves are wolves that are made from twigs, tree branches, leaves, and rock because of a magic mishap caused by a unicorn long ago. They're very territorial and bloodthirsty, willing to attack anything and anyone that dares to even so much as come into their line of vision! They're very persistent, too! Once they see you and you try to run, they'll chase you forever!" Medley explained while becoming scared.

One wood wolf barked, and the other two proceeded to charge at them.

The ponies screamed with all their might...except for four of them.

"Kyaahh!" With quick precision, Bow Tie quickly evaded one wood wolf who tried to attack her and retaliated with a strong back leg kick to the face, causing it to roll on the grass as it covered it's face with its claws. "Take that, you horrid creature!"

A wood wolf was about to attack Bubbles, with its mouth wide open and its teeth boasting about their sharpness. But before the wood wolf could attack the helpless yellow pony, he felt something grab onto his ears. It turned out to be none other than Lemon Drop.

"Yeehaw!" Lemon Drop cried out cheerfully as the wood wolf began thrashing around, trying to pry her off. But Lemon Drop looked like she was having the time of her life! "Show me what you got, Mr. Wolf!"

The wood wolf kicked, thrashed, and howled, but Lemon Drop just wouldn't let go. She's both having too much fun and too focused on trying to stay on his back so he wouldn't attack Bubbles, who quickly retreated to Glory's side once Lemon Drop distracted it with her wolf riding. After a while, Lemon Drop wound up losing her grip and the wood wolf managed to throw her into the air.

"All yours, Twilight!" Lemon Drop piped in as she passed by Twilight upon descending to the ground.

"I'm on it!" Twilight said as she proceeded to use her front hooves to repeatedly pound on the same wood wolf's head despite the fact that it was about to lunge at her. After a few punches and kicks, the wood wolf finally gave up and ran away into the distance. But now two wood wolves are left.

"Hey! Leave my friends alone, you mangy mutts!" Moondancer yelled valiantly as she stood between her friends and the hungry wood wolves. Her horn glowed in a rosy red color, and all of a sudden, multiple rays of light shot out from her horn. Many of them missed, but three rays of light managed to hit one wood wolf enough to make it fall to the ground, unable to move.

"Moondancer! Be careful!" Medley called out with worry, knowing what would happen if Moondancer wasn't careful.

"Moondancer!" Twilight cried out as she grabbed onto the wood wolf's ears and yanked them very hard. So hard that the wood wolf howled in pain. Seeing this as an opening, Moondancer and Bow Tie both slipped underneath the wood wolf and kicked it in the stomach with both of their back legs, rendering it unable to breathe for a bit. But the wood wolf stammered back to his feet and proceeded to lunge at them again.

"Scatter!" Medley called out as she saw the wood wolf about to lunge at them. On cue, all of the ponies who didn't participate in the fighting scattered away in different directions...except for one.

"Back! Back, you dog! Behold the power of my light!" Sunbeam bravely stood up to the ferocious, bloodthirsty wood wolf, shining her glowing horn at it's face, hoping it would blind it and keep it from attacking them. But the wood wolf then saw Medley trying to think of a way to stop him. As soon as the rest of the ponies were about to assault the remaining wood wolf, it suddenly jumped away from them and immediately lunged at Medley, pinning her to the ground.

"KYAAA!"

"MEDLEY!" All the other ponies screamed as they tried to pry the wood wolf off of her, but the wolf kicked them all off. The scream echoed throughout the entire forest, along with Medley's scream.

While the wood wolf didn't have his claws out, Medley knew that if she didn't act quickly, it most certainly would bring them out in due time. Despite being consumed by fear and the potential death sentence about to overtake her, Medley tried to remain as calm as possible despite the wood wolf staring down at her wickedly and mercilessly. She knew that wood wolves show no mercy to their prey. She had to watch as the other ponies desperately tried to save her, but the wood wolf constantly pushed them all off. _'Stay calm, Medley. If you think rationally, something will come to you. But you have to act quick or else you'll be roadkill!'_ Medley thought as she looked at the dark scenery around her. She moved her hooves, which are free, around to feel something she could grab.

Then her right hoof felt it. A surprisingly long, sharp, and thorny stick. It was long enough to be used as a spear. Medley isn't one who particularly likes violence, and only uses it for necessary defense. Not only that, she's an animal lover too. To her, animal cruelty is even more disgraceful than getting into a fight with someone, and it was something she was not going to tolerate no matter what. But she knew she was in a bad situation, and the ponies who are with her likely aren't strong enough to handle a gigantic wood wolf whose body is made up of things from its natural habitat, and Medley knew that this wood wolf was not going to let go of it's prey once it got a hold of it, so she knew she would have to hurt it. All of a sudden, a long, pink ray of light hit the wood wolf's face, leaving a black charred area on it's cheek.

"Hey, wood wolf! Over here! Come and get me!" Moondancer yelled angrily.

The wood wolf turned to look at Moondancer...which would prove to be a mistake.

All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, the wood wolf felt something sharp, thorny, and rigid go right into his left eye, permeating it in its entirety. As soon as the wood wolf felt it, he bellowed and howled in excruciating pain. The wood wolf howled harder and louder than any of the wood wolves in the Forsaken Wood, its howls echoing throughout the entire forest. The ponies were shocked by what just happened.

Medley stabbed the wood wolf in the eye with the long stick!

Once the wood wolf covered it's eye with its paws, Medley used the opportunity to quickly run away. Bubbles and Glory helped her out and made sure she was away from it's line of vision. The stick continued to hang from the wood wolf's eye until the wood wolf used it's paws to yank it out, but it didn't help any, as purple liquid started pouring out of it. Thinking the wood wolf wasn't done with them yet, Moondancer, Sunbeam, Bow Tie, and Lemon Drop stood in front of it valiantly.

"Give it up, you one-eyed mutt!" Lemon Drop yelled.

"Stay away from our friend, you monster!" Bow Tie yelled.

On cue, the wood wolf heeded their warnings and finally ran away in pain, leaving a trail of purple ooze as it left the scene. Everypony exhaled a huge sigh of relief. Bow Tie then turned to Medley, who was being tended to by Lickety-Split.

"Medley! Are you alright?!" Bow Tie yelped as she and the other ponies ran over to her. Lickety-Split finished wrapping a bandage on Medley's hoof.

"That wood wolf could have killed you!" Sunbeam exclaimed with worry in her eyes.

Medley smiled at them sweetly. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for worrying about me, though I think my hoof got pricked at from the stick I used to attack it," Medley said.

"She's right. Even the sticks and branches around here have thorns on them," Lickety-Split said.

"But wow! You were awesome back there! You managed to stick that thing in its eye like you were some kind of pony warrior!" Moondancer exclaimed happily.

Medley's smile faded and she stared down at the ground a little dejectedly.

"You were so brave despite being in danger! I have to admit, I wish I was as brave as you!" Glory said.

"What's wrong? You don't look happy," Bubbles asked, noticing the sadness in Medley's face.

"I...I wish I didn't have to resort to that," Medley murmured softly.

"Why?" Bubbles asked innocently.

"Even if they're from the Forsaken Wood, they're still animals...living creatures, just like us. We shouldn't hurt them. I just wish we could have put a patch on it's eye," Medley explained.

"Meds! That thing was rabid! It could have killed you!" Moondancer exclaimed, a little surprised by Medley's sudden change of heart in regards to the wood wolves.

"I do have to agree with Moondancer. While I do respect your love for animals and life in general, in times of crisis we may have to resort to violent means, even when we don't want to, just so we can survive. I'm a docile pacifist myself and I abhor fighting, but if I'm in danger then I have to defend myself," Glory explained calmly.

"Yeah! I taught myself how to fight because other ponies kept calling me a girly-girl, thinking I can't stand up for myself and that I'm some kind of damsel in distress who needs constant protection 24/7, and I hate that!" Bow Tie piped in.

"Besides, I don't think wood wolves will listen to reason either way," Lemon Drop said.

Medley knew they had good points, so she didn't argue with them. She did float into the air once Lickety-Split was done sterilizing the scratches on her hoof.

"You think you can go on?" Moondancer asked.

"I can, so long as I fly," Medley replied sweetly.

"I'll stay with you so we don't veer off course," Twilight said as she flew by Medley's side.

"Alright everypony! Let's keep moving!" Moondancer said as she let her horn glow again.

The ponies thought they were alone in the Forsaken Wood, alone to a point where nopony else would hear their screams. But they were wrong.

"What the-?!" Around the time Medley was attacked, Firefly heard the screams from afar. She stood up on the tree she was on, looking very alert. "Starshine! Did you hear that just now?!"

"Yeah, I did!" Starshine said as she stood up next to Firefly.

Firefly thought what she heard was an illusion. But she heard it loud and clear, and immediately, her angry heart shed all of it's anger, turning into worry.

"That sounded like..._Medley_!" Firefly shouted, recognizing the scream. "It sounds like she's in trouble! I've gotta go save her!"

Firefly zipped from the tree, descended downward into the forest and zipped through it. Starshine chased after her.

"Firefly! Don't go so fast! It's dangerous! You've gotta be careful!" Starshine told her.

Starshine's words echoed in Firefly's mind, but not as a warning. Medley often said those very words to her more times than not, and now, Medley could be in trouble! How could she be careful when her friend is in danger?

"My friend's in trouble! I've gotta help her somehow!" Firefly screamed with her eyes closed, not realizing that she's about to fly into a huge bush of thorns. Something that Starshine saw.

"Firefly! Look out!" Starshine shouted, but it was too late.

"Oof!"

Firefly found herself and her wings trapped in the big bushel of thorns. Part of her left wing was actually wrapped around one vine a bit. Upon opening her eyes, Firefly tried to get out, but the pain caused by the thorns and her wing being trapped in one of the vines held her back. No matter how much she struggled, all the thorns poked holes in her pink body without mercy, and her wing wasn't faring much better. Starshine flew over to her and couldn't help but chuckle a little, which perturbed Firefly quite a good deal.

"Starshine! Quit laughing at me!" Firefly screamed angrily.

"Now I see why Medley's constantly worrying about you," Starshine said.

"Oh, like you're one to talk! Do you mind?" Firefly retorted. Starshine looked at Firefly with an authoritative stare and crossed her arms.

"What's the magic word?"

Firefly sighed and rolled her eyes at the same time. "Pleeeeease?"

"Okay!" Starshine exclaimed cheerfully as she proceeded to try and unwrap Firefly's wing from the vine, which proved to be no easy task.

"Ow! Ow! Cut it out, Starshine! Ack!" Firefly yelped from the pain.

"Sorry! I'm being as careful as I can!" Starshine retorted back.

"Medley's way better at this than you!"

"Look who's talking, Ms. Reckless Danger Extraordinaire."

After about a few harrowing and painful minutes, Starshine managed to get Firefly out of the thorny bush and onto the ground despite how dark it is. Starshine then saw that some thorns and thistles still managed to stick to Firefly's body, so she decided to take the liberty of pulling them all out one by one.

"Ow! Oww! OWW! Starshine! You could be a little more gentle, y'know?!" Firefly snapped angrily.

"Sorry, but when you're dealing with thorns, there's no such thing as gentle," Starshine told her gently. She meant this to justify her actions, but Firefly took it as a retort.

_'Seriously! Medley's way better at this than you!'_ Firefly thought. But as soon as Medley appeared in her mind again, her anger turned back into worry. _'Medley...that was your scream. I know it was. I heard other ponies call your name right afterward, too! I have to save you! You're my friend!'_ Firefly thought as she felt the anger in her heart dissipate. After a while, all of the thorns and thistles had been pulled off.

"I wish I brought my first aid kit so I could put some stuff on you," Starshine said, regretting the fact that she didn't bring a first aid kit with her, which is essential when going into a place like the Forsaken Wood.

"It's fine. A little pain won't stop me. Now come on! We've gotta find-OOF!" Firefly was about to zip away again when she slammed into something else.

"Firefly!" Starshine said as she flew over to a dizzy-looking Firefly. The area they're in isn't as covered with big, thick leaves as the other parts, so Starshine could see Firefly and the things around her just fine.

Starshine shook Firefly, trying to get her out of her dizzy state. "Firefly! What's wrong with you?! Snap out of it!" Starshine commanded.

"I'm...sleepy..." Firefly murmured wearily, then closed her eyes and began snoring.

Starshine found this to be very troubling. 'What in the world?! How the heck is Firefly sleepy all of a sudden?' Starshine thought. But she found her answer when she turned around.

A huge, dark purple flower the size of a wood wolf towered above them. It's leaves are black and pointy, sharp even, and the inside of the purple flower is white. It abounded in purple foliage, but Starshine yelped once she laid eyes on it.

"Oh no! A Sleep Violet! That explains it! I..." Starshine yelped and was about to make a run for it, but suddenly she began to feel sleepy, just like Firefly.

"I...I've gotta...gotta...ahhhh..." Starshine fell on top of Firefly and slept away like a filly. The two of them completely forgot about trying to find Medley.

As for the pony group, after a lot of walking, they decided to take a break and sit down in the middle of the dirt path. Moondancer, Glory, and Sunbeam continued to make light with their horns while Twilight kept the light on her helmet on. None of the ponies said a word to each other as they rested. They made sure to be on their guard for more ferocious creatures like wood wolves. Everypony looked grim and serious, even the most hyper ponies, like Lickety-Split and Sunbeam, looked eerily grim. Bubbles thought about brightening the mood a bit, but she didn't know how, and normally her attempts to brighten the mood don't always go as she planned.

She turned around to find Medley, looking up at the thick leaves covering the sky sadly. Bubbles even caught sight of some tears streaming down Medley's green face. Bubbles gently tapped Lickety-Split's leg and pointed to Medley. The forest green pegasus was now overcome with sadness from the outcome of their little squabble, worry because of the situation they're in, and some pain because of the prick marks on her hoof. She wondered if she would ever see Firefly again, or even reconcile with her. Medley wished she hadn't gotten so fussy and so frustrated earlier today. She wished she had better control of the situation. She wished she could have fixed it instead of exacerbate it. Medley looked down and closed her eyes again.

"Medley?"

Bubbles' sweet voice pulled Medley out of her grim reverie. She turned around to find Bubbles and Lickety-Split standing behind her, both with sympathetic and worried faces.

"You alright?" Lickety-Split asked as she sat next to her. Bubbles did the same, but on the other side.

"No..." Medley murmured.

"Worried about Firefly?" Bubbles asked.

Medley nodded grimly. "If only I hadn't criticized Firefly so much...if I hadn't been so fussy, we wouldn't be in this mess right now. Everyone's putting themselves in harm's way because of me!" Medley cried, softly at first, then louder upon blaming herself for their current situation.

Lickety-Split was about to say something until Bubbles gently rubbed her head against Medley's. Bubbles stroke and nuzzled Medley's face with her own yellow one without a word. At first Medley was a little surprised, even confused by this gesture, wondering why Bubbles is doing this. But then she remembered: this is Bubbles' special way of trying to cheer somepony up and make them feel better. Bubbles doesn't use words to try and comfort somepony. Once she finished stroking Medley's tear-stained face with her own yellow one, she sat closer to her and rubbed herself against her. This made Medley touched.

"Bubbles..." Medley whispered sadly, even though she's quite happy with what Bubbles did. Bubbles, however, misconstrued Medley's expression.

"Aw. Did I make you sad again?" Bubbles asked, thinking she did something wrong.

"No, Bubbles. I'm just so happy you care for me this way..." Medley whimpered.

"But you're crying! If you're crying, then you're sad! My nuzzle didn't make you happy!" Bubbles exclaimed, convinced that she did something wrong. But Lickety-Split intervened as soon as Bubbles was about to make a scene.

"She's trying to tell you that you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Anypony can make that kind of mistake. I've had my fair share of bad days and I certainly took my anger out on a lot of ponies, too! You're not alone, Meds, and I'm sure Firefly will understand," Lickety-Split told her reassuringly while stroking the mare's forest green hair with her hoof, smoothing it out.

"But...what especially makes me sad is that I took my anger out on my very first friend. The very first pony that I ever made friends with...and the first one who accepted me for who I am..." Medley whimpered.

"Really? Firefly was your first friend?" Bubbles asked.

"Yep! Don't you know, Bubbles? Firefly and Medley met at a flight camp when they were tiny little fillies!" Lickety-Split said with a smile.

Bubbles' eyes widened with innocent, child-like curiosity. "Tell me a story about you and Firefly. Please?"

Medley smiled a bit because of Bubbles being so innocent, not knowing anything about her past with Firefly, so she decided to give in. "Alright. I'll tell you the story."

Medley told Bubbles and Lickety-Split about how she didn't want to go to the flight camp, how the other colts bullied her for being unable to fly properly, how the teachers would scold her for not taking any risks no matter what they did, for hiding in corners and playing with the instruments a lot, and for being a coward. But Firefly always stood up for her even though Medley didn't consider her to be a friend at the time. Medley did, however, remember one fond memory with Firefly that she's always wanted to share.

(flashback)

_This happened the day before Starshine paired Firefly and Medley up. Once class was over, all the colts in Starshine's class were allowed to play in the clouds for recess. Instead of play with the other foals or practice flying, the young, timid, green pegasus filly decided to go somewhere quiet and explore since she's still trying to get used to her surroundings. But she had to make sure she didn't go too far because the teachers would yell at her if she went any further than her designated play place._

_She looked around for a bit, then saw one cloud containing a puddle of water. Naturally becoming curious, she decided to look in it, for she had never seen a puddle of water in the sky before. She looked in it and much to her surprise, her face is being shown in the water! Little Medley thought the water was playing tricks on her. Did the face in the water really do what she did at the same time? She turned her head to the left side. The reflection did the same. She turned her head to the left. The reflection did the same. To try and confirm this further, she very slowly and cautiously proceeded to dip her pert little green nose into the water. She made contact with the water, but it felt so cold, so freezing, that she couldn't help but flail a little as she pulled it out._

_Naturally, the freezing sensation faded as soon as she left the water, but now the water looked very ripply and distorted. She wondered if she caused that. But bravely, she looked in it again, watching the water reform. But, to her surprise, not only did her own reflection appear again, but another face appeared! The face of a pink filly with lightning blue hair. Curious little Medley looked both at that face, then at her own. Twice. Realizing what this meant, she cautiously looked up._

_And there she was! Firefly! Medley recognized this little pink filly, even knew her name because she's the one who saved her from the three mean colts who assaulted her once. However, Medley was still cautious to a point where she didn't consider Firefly to be her friend just yet. Firefly, however, thought differently. Upon seeing Medley look into her bright, energetic face, she laughed and walked two steps forward, which stimulated the little green filly into taking two steps back shyly. Firefly walked two more steps toward her, and Medley walked two more steps back. Becoming a little frightened, Medley trotted away, hoping to have some space, but Firefly suddenly began chasing after her while giggling. Seeing that Starshine and Skydancer are nearby, Medley decided to run over to them. Firefly followed her. Realizing that Firefly is still on her tail, Medley ran all around Skydancer and Starshine's spindly legs, and so did Firefly. They chased each other like cats and dogs. Weirdly enough, Starshine and Skydancer didn't mind seeing these two playful little fillies running all around their legs. Medley ran behind Starshine while Firefly happily stood in front of Skydancer, who looked a little weirded out by the situation. Starshine looked down at Medley with a smile, seeing the innocent confusion and anxiety on her green face._

_"That's little Firefly. You remember her, don't you?" Starshine told her. Medley nodded silently._

_Firefly's blue tail wagged left and right vigorously as she looked upon Medley with her wide, purple eyes. After a bit, she looked up at Skydancer. "She's kinda bashful, isn't she, Skydancer?"_

_"Well, maybe she wouldn't be if you said hello," Skydancer told her calmly._

_Firefly hopped in front of Starshine, though she was mostly looking at Medley. "Hello Medley!"_

_Of course, being the timid pegasus that she is, Medley continued to hide behind Starshine's back legs, unsure of whether to respond to this energetic pink pony or not._

_"I said hello!" Firefly exclaimed impatiently._

_"Don't be impatient, Firefly. You shouldn't force it," Skydancer told her._

_"Aren't you going to answer her?" Starshine asked Medley, who shook her head._

_"You're not afraid, are you?" Starshine asked again. Normally, when ponies are asked if they're afraid of something, they usually say no as a way to hide any sign of weakness. But Medley nodded, which meant yes. Starshine and Skydancer looked at each other with confused faces. Starshine moved out from between Firefly and Medley._

_"You shouldn't be afraid to make friends, Medley dear. Why don't you and Firefly play together for a while?" Starshine told her, then left with Skydancer, leaving the two young fillies all alone._

_"Hey! I know a great game we can play!" Firefly exclaimed as she ran to a big basket full of toys. She picked out a big yellow and orange ball. "Let's play Pegasus Volleyball!"_

_"But...that's a beach ball," Medley said._

_"That doesn't mean we can't use it for other stuff! Come on, Medley! Let's play!" Firefly said._

_Cautiously and timidly, Medley complied and played with Firefly. However, Medley soon began to enjoy herself. She found herself liking this rambunctious, energetic, and wild pegasus filly, with her blue hair, her bright lavender eyes, her playful personality, her irrepressibly courageous demeanor, her wild and dramatic flair, and her ability to fly so easily. Soon, Medley found herself flying in the air! Ten feet above ground, and she never reached that height before._

_"Hey Medley! You're flying!" Firefly told her._

_Medley was surprised by the fact that her little green wings are flapping and that she's actually staying in the air! She didn't fall, her wings didn't cramp, and she didn't feel any fear. Perhaps this is why Firefly was so intent on playing with her: to teach her how to fly and take a risk._

_The two fillies somehow managed to stay together thanks to Starshine, and, in later years, they began going to flight camp together all the time. In their third year of flight camp, Medley and Firefly sat on a cloud together and talked. It was something Medley wanted to discuss with Firefly for a long time, but never got the chance to do so._

_"Firefly? Exactly...why did you become friends with me?" Medley asked politely after she stopped playing an ocarina she got from her pink, blue-haired friend for her birthday. Firefly was about to zip off the cloud and perform a trick until she heard Medley's question and stopped._

_"What do you mean why?" Firefly asked._  
_"Well, you could have hung out with other energetic and rambunctious pegasi like yourself, yet you continued to stay with me, a timid, weak-willed, and cowardly pegasus who couldn't fly ten feet in the air without falling before. A lot of the pegasi there didn't like a shy, clumsy flier like me, yet...why did you continue to stay with me, even after other pegasi began picking on you for being around me?" Medley rephrased her question so Firefly could understand better._

_Firefly didn't even take a moment to think. She knew the answer to that question right away. "Because you're my friend!"_

_Medley was caught quite off guard._

_"Well, to be honest, it made me mad when those colts were pickin' on you back there, and I figured that if I didn't stand up for you, then you'd get hurt, and I don't like it when pegasi are picked on. That, and I kind of wanted to prove to my parents that I can be good, though they weren't there when it happened. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't using you to make myself look good or anything. I guess I thought maybe you wanted a super special friend who would kindly accept you for who you are and stuff, without being mean or nasty about it. Besides, you're my first friend, and I want us to continue being friends forever and ever and ever. We're still friends, right?" Firefly explained, even though she's having a bit of trouble coming up with the right words to explain herself._

_Medley was speechless. She didn't know what to say. She knew Firefly did care about her in a way, but Medley didn't feel she deserved any friends because she was so timid and weak-willed when she first began going to flight camp. She didn't understand why a restless and wild filly like Firefly would ever want to befriend a shy, cowardly, somewhat flightless filly like herself, yet here's Firefly telling her that she's her first friend and wants to continue treasuring that for the rest of her life. Medley suddenly found tears streaming down her face. Firefly saw this and was surprised._

_"Oh ponyfeathers! Did I do that?! I'm sorry!" Firefly exclaimed, thinking she did something wrong._

_"No! I'm not upset," Medley told her as she wiped some tears away with her hoof. "I'm just so happy that you consider me important, even though I'm such a stupid scaredy-pony."_

_"You're not stupid at all! You're important to me!" Firefly told her sternly with crossed hooves. "So yeah, you were a bit of a scaredy-pony, but I thought maybe you needed someone who could help you take some risks once in a while! Besides, who cares about what other ponies think? They don't understand how great you really are! No matter what, you'll always be my first and best friend!"_

_Medley finished wiping away her tears and smiled at Firefly. "You're my best friend, too."_

(end flashback)

"Awww! That's such a sweet story!" Bubbles cooed sweetly, touched by Medley's recount.

"Yes, though I have to admit, I think our friendship really took off because Starshine paired us up. I think if it weren't for that, we wouldn't be as close as we are now," Medley explained. But upon saying that, she realized that something about it seemed odd. "Come to think of it, Starshine could have paired me and Firefly with other pegasi. But I wonder why she paired us up? Something tells me it couldn't be a coincidence..." Medley thought out loud until she was pulled out of her reverie.

"I think I might know why she paired you two up," Lickety-Split said out of nowhere and, as Medley and Bubbles both noticed, rather solemnly, which is unlike her because she's usually so cheery and so happy all the time, kind of Like Sunbeam, Fizzy, and Surprise.

"Do you?" Bubbles asked.

"I think Starshine paired you and Firefly up on purpose because she thought you'd compliment each other well. Y'know, Firefly's the tomboy and you're the girly girl. Maybe she thought you two would be great influences on each other. You'd keep Firefly out of trouble and teach her how to restrain herself and not be so reckless, and Firefly could teach you to have some courage, take some risks, and enjoy yourself, even if it meant getting in trouble. I know Bow Tie and Moondancer are like that with each other, so maybe Starshine knew that you two would benefit from being near each other every day," Lickety-Split explained solemnly, but in a kind, gentle, wise voice.

"Gosh. I never thought about it that way," Medley said.

"Lemon Drop and I are childhood friends too!" Bubbles exclaimed.

Lickety-Split was about to say something until Glory appeared before the trio with her horn glowing.

"You three need to get ready. We're about to depart in a few minutes," Glory told them politely.

"Alright. Thanks for the warning," Lickety-Split said with a smile, then turned to Medley and Bubbles. "We'd better get moving again, even though I really want to get out of here."

"Me too," Bubbles said.

With that, the pony group prepared for another trip into the Forsaken Wood.

But what of Firefly and Starshine?

"Urgh..." Starshine said as she woke up. Her head was pounding, so once she got up, she rubbed it with her hoof. "What hit me?"

As soon as she said that, she looked up and saw the flower, the Sleep Violet, that she and Firefly ran into and remembered everything. As she saw it, she pushed the unconscious Firefly further away from it.

"Oh! I remember! We ran into this thing!" Starshine said until she felt something stir. It was Firefly, who steadily awoke from her slumber.

"My head feels like it's been loaded with bricks..." Firefly mused wearily as she woke up.

"Firefly! Thank goodness you're awake!" Starshine exclaimed.

"What happened just now? Why did I fall asleep?" Firefly asked, confused.

"We both fell asleep, and that's because we ran into this big flower called a Sleep Violet," Starshine explained.

"A Sleep Violet?" Firefly asked.

"Yep!" Starshine said. "Sleep Violets are huge flowers that grow in the Forsaken Wood, along with other places as well. They're not poisonous, thank goodness, but if you touch their foliage, it emits a strong aroma that puts you to sleep for varying amounts of time. Doctors often use it as a kind of anesthesia for patients when prepping them for an operation, as the aroma also makes your body feel nothing."

"That explains it," Firefly said.

"I'm just glad we didn't run into anything poisonous. Man, if only I brought my kit with me!" Starshine complained, regretting the fact that she failed to bring a first aid kit with her.

Then Firefly remembered immediately. "Oh no! Medley! I've gotta find her and fast!" With that, she zipped away.

"Firefly! Wait! You've gotta calm down!" Starshine immediately chased after Firefly, who, weirdly enough, wasn't as affected by the effects of the Sleep Violet as Starshine was. It's no wonder she's so nimble and agile.

Meanwhile, the pony gang continued to walk...until Moondancer suddenly stopped, which prompted all of the other ponies to stop in their tracks as well.

"What's wrong, Moondancer?" Twilight asked.

"Shh!" Moondancer hushed. "There's a clearing with six sleeping wood wolves up ahead," Moondancer told them quietly. Even though she warned them in advance, all the ponies became scared, though they were wise to keep silent.

Moondancer cautiously approached the clearing and lit part of it up with the rosy red light of her white horn. She's right. Six wood wolves are sleeping contentedly in the clearing. Moondancer then dimmed the light of her horn, which Lemon Drop noticed.

"Why are you dimming your light?" Lemon Drop asked in a low whisper.

"Since it's normally pitch black in the Forsaken Wood, I think the light might wake them up, so we better ease up on the lights," Moondancer told Lemon Drop, then turned to Sunbeam and Glory. "You two, dim your lights a bit so we don't wake them."

"Will do, sister," Glory said as she and Sunbeam complied and dimmed the lights enough so they wouldn't disturb the wood wolves, but made sure they glowed enough so they can at least see where they're going.

"Since the wood wolves are sleeping, we better use this chance to get by them. Don't make even the smallest peep or go anywhere near them," Moondancer told everypony in a whisper, and they all nodded.

Silently and cautiously, the ponies stayed together as they attempted to walk past the wood wolves. They somehow managed to get to the middle of the clearing without difficulty...until Lickety-Split suddenly felt her front hoof step on a thorny vine.

"YOOOWW!" Lickety-Split roared in pain while running backwards and stepping on a sleeping wood wolf's tail with one of her back legs, which in turn made the wood wolf wake up and howl in pain, and with that, every wood wolf in the clearing woke up.

"Lickety-Split!" Everypony yelled angrily.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I swear!" Lickety-Split cried out as all six wood wolves closed in on them, staring at them with bloodthirsty eyes and glistening teeth.

As soon as two wood wolves lunged at them, Medley and Twilight both flew out of the way while Moondancer and Sunbeam immediately shot rays of light from their horns, both of which hit the two wood wolves, blackening their bellies a little. Another wood wolf tried to scratch Glory, but she dodged the attack and kicked the wood wolf in the face with her back legs.

"Take that, you ruffian!" Glory exclaimed, not knowing that another wood wolf is behind her.

"Glory! Look out!" Lickety-Split yelled as she hopped onto the wood wolf's back and yanked it by the ears, causing it to divert its attention away from the elegant unicorn and go wild as Lickety-Split did the exact same thing Lemon Drop did before. The wood wolf thrashed and jumped around wildly, hoping to throw the pink pony off, but she wouldn't give up.

"Sunbeam! Put this thing under a hibernation spell or something!" Lickety-Split commanded.

"You got it!" Sunbeam exclaimed as her horn glowed in a yellow light. As soon as Lickety-Split smacked the wood wolf over the head and jumped off of him in the same manner, a light appeared from Sunbeam's horn, hitting the wood wolf and making it fall back asleep.

Unfortunately, unlike the first incident, dealing with five or six wood wolves proved to be very difficult indeed. They moved so fast, even the ponies couldn't keep up with them despite outnumbering them.

"These things are so fast! How can they move in this darkness?!" Lemon Drop complained.

"Wood wolves are nocturnal! They can see in the dark!" Medley said.

"That's not good at all!" Bow Tie said as she kicked a wood wolf in the stomach, rendering it unable to breathe, which gave Glory the opportunity to put it under a hibernation spell just like Sunbeam did earlier. But Bow Tie didn't know that a wood wolf was closing in on her.

"BOW!" Moondancer cried as she violently bit a wood wolf's ear, causing it to howl in pain. This gave Bow Tie the opportunity to escape and Twilight and Medley the opportunity to help Moondancer as she put that one under a hibernation spell as well.

"Three down, three more to go," Medley mused when suddenly a loud whinny came from where the ponies came in.

"BUBBLES! NO!" Lemon Drop screamed upon laying eyes on a horrible sight.

One wood wolf has a helpless Bubbles pinned to the ground while another one closed in on it.

Lemon Drop became absolutely choleric.

"YOU LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE YOU BEASTS!" Lemon Drop screamed angrily as she charged at them like a wild bull.

"No, Lemon Drop! Don't!" Medley tried to stop her but the angry, purple-haired pony ran so fast Medley couldn't keep up.

"HELP ME!" Bubbles cried and screamed and tried to break free from the wood wolf's grasp, but being as physically weak as she is, she couldn't. Lemon Drop tried to save her, but the other wood wolf, knowing what she was going to do, stopped her from going any further. The other ponies tried to step in as well, but the third wood wolf managed to stop them all for getting any closer to Bubbles and the wood wolf.

Bubbles tried everything. She tried hitting the wood wolf's legs with her free hooves and biting it with her teeth, but it didn't work. Scared as she was, she struggled to break free like Medley did. But unlike Medley, who did manage to break free, Bubbles couldn't save herself as the wood wolf who pinned her down proceeded to use it's free claw to tear her to shreds. Bubbles squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for her demise.

A scream echoed in the forest, but it didn't belong to Bubbles. No, it sure didn't.

Bubbles, seeing that she survived, opened her eyes, though she would soon regret it.

She saw green feathers flying and a green blur fall next to her.

She recognized the green blur immediately.

"MEDS!" Everypony screamed in perfect unison, Bubbles included.

Medley lay on the dirt, with part of her wing cut by the wood wolf's claws. The cut wasn't so strong that blood came out or that it broke her wing, but she was still rendered very weak. The wood wolf decided to free Bubbles and decide that Medley is more its prey than Bubbles is. The other ponies tried to approach her, but the other wood wolves just wouldn't let them.

Despite this, Medley tried to get up. She tried to use her legs to stand up and at least get away while she had the chance, but her weak legs succumbed to exhaustion and conceded defeat, causing her to fall back on the ground as a wood wolf stared down at her with glowing eyes, glistening teeth, and a thirst for blood.

Medley knew everything was going to end here._ 'Firefly...I'm sorry...I'm sorry I'm such a bad friend. I don't deserve...to be your friend. I'm sorry...'_ Medley thought as she attempted to close her eyes and wait for death to overtake her. She thought this was her punishment for being so cruel to Firefly, so she decided to accept it.

But she saw something else. Something she recognized.


	4. To The Forest of Firefly Light

Chapter 4: To The Forest of Firefly Light

_"THUNDERSPRINT!"_

Out of nowhere, the wood wolf was suddenly struck by a huge flash of blue lightning, causing it to become electrocuted and the forest to literally explode in a blue light, blinding everything and everyone temporarily. Medley, despite being so weak from the slash, managed to get up as she watched the wood wolf turn into burnt toast because of the huge explosion of flashing blue lightning. But no, the wood wolf wasn't the only one that got electrocuted. The other two wood wolves got electrocuted as well. The explosion of blue lightning was so bright, so powerful, that it looked as though the entire forest lit up in a sea of blue light. Everything in the clearing became electrically charged, even the trees. Medley could see blue sparks everywhere and that a lot of the big trees have been stripped bare of their leaves, allowing the sky to be seen. All of a sudden, a bluish pink blur zipped by the wood wolves at the speed of light, making them dizzy. Despite the pandemonium going on, Glory and Bubbles both helped Medley get up and away from the wood wolves. Medley gazed at the blur with her blue eyes.

She had seen all of this before.

"...Firefly...?"

Finally, the blur finally stopped in one place, flying in front of the wood wolves who, despite being electrocuted by the huge explosion of blue lightning that came out of nowhere, still tried to lunge at the thing that tried to attack them, and Medley was right.

The thing that caused the explosion turned out to be none other than Firefly.

"You're gonna pay for hurting my best friend, you beasts!" Firefly yelled, her body literally glowing with a blue aura, her hair sticking up because of all the static electricity running through her little pink body like adrenaline. Everypony watched as Firefly decided to face off against the three remaining wood wolves.

"Firefly! You can't fight them alone! We'll help you!" Twilight called out as she, Lemon Drop, Bow Tie, and Moondancer attempted to help her.

"I'm not alone!" Firefly called out as the wood wolves attempted to lunge at her...only to be stomped on by another pegasus.

A white one with rainbow hair.

"Starshine?!" All the ponies yelped as Starshine karate chopped one wood wolf in the face and kicked another one with her back legs. She did a backflip and managed to headbutt the other one enough to make it fall to the ground.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, my little ponies!" Starshine exclaimed as she flew before the other ponies. But the other ponies knew that the battle wasn't over yet. One wood wolf finally gave up and ran away while the remaining two attempted to finish off Firefly, who looked quite confident and ready to take them on.

Medley watched in awe as Firefly literally radiated blue electricity. Sparks were literally flying off of her pink body. _'Firefly...you came to save us...'_ Medley thought as Glory got a better look at her wing.

"Oh my! Your wing got slashed good! Stay still, I'll take care of this one," Glory said as she got her first aid kit out and began using it and her magic to tend to Medley's wing.

"Prepare to get charged, wood wolves!" Firefly said as she did another thundersprint, which meant she flew at them at full speed while making sparks fly around her body again, which in turn managed to electrocute the two other wood wolves so much that their bodies succumbed to the pain and they fell to the ground, numb and unconscious.

All the ponies exhaled a sigh of relief. The battle is finally over.

Firefly turned around and saw Glory wrapping gauze around Medley's wing. Firefly's purple eyes and mouth widened at the sight of her now weak friend.

"MEDLEY!" Firefly literally glomped Medley and held onto her tight, causing Medley's good wing to slap Glory a bit (this was an accident). "Oh thank Eques you're alive!"

"Firefly..." Medley mused as she felt herself be squeezed by Firefly's tight hug. Then Firefly let go of Medley.

"You sure took a beating there, Meds," Starshine said.

Medley was about to say something until Firefly interrupted her with worry literally oozing out of her lavender eyes. "Why the hay did you come into the Forsaken Wood?! You know how dangerous it is! And look! You got badly hurt because of it! You all could have been killed!"

"We came looking for you!" Bow Tie suddenly piped in.

Firefly turned to the other ponies with shock on her pink face. "You all came here...to look for me?"

"Yeah!" Moondancer said. "We had to come. We couldn't let you stay here! Besides, Medley feels pretty awful about what happened earlier today, so she wanted to apologize to you!"

"I only said I wanted to make sure she's safe, then leave her alone so she can cool off!" Medley retorted.

"Yep! She did say that!" Sunbeam exclaimed excitedly.

"Medley was really worried about you, Firefly. She really wanted to make up with you," Twilight told her kindly.

Firefly suddenly found herself touched by their plight, but she didn't show it with tears. "You came all this way...just for that?"

"DUH!" All the ponies (except for Bubbles, Glory, and Medley) yelled in unison.

Suddenly, Medley began whimpering. Firefly turned around to find her green pegasus friend in a paroxysm of tears. "Firefly...I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I said all those awful things to you! I truly am! I don't deserve to be your friend after being so cruel to you when you didn't do anything wrong!" Medley screamed wildly and cried her heart out. Glory continued to try and fix Medley's wing despite this.

"Just so you know, Medley didn't get much sleep last night. That's why she was all grouchy and fussy," Lemon Drop told her boldly.

_'So Starshine was right after all...'_ Firefly thought. Now it was confirmed. Medley really didn't get enough sleep, which is why she became so controlling and grouchy. All of Firefly's anger faded away upon seeing her broken and injured friend, who was so bold, so courageous, and so reckless as to literally journey into the Forsaken Wood despite the danger just so she could apologize to Firefly or keep an eye on her. Firefly became really touched this time. She knew Medley cared about her in her own way, but she never expected Medley to go to such great lengths for her sake, especially considering that Medley wants nothing more than to avoid dangerous situations like this. Not only that, all these other ponies came with her, further emphasizing how much they care about her. With a soft smile, Firefly stood in front of Medley and gently stroke her messy green hair with her hoof. This made Medley stop crying. Firefly then put her hoof on Medley's wet cheek.

"I understand. I'm sorry too, for being such a brat. I forgive you," Firefly told her. All of a sudden, Medley began blubbering again. But this time, Firefly hugged her gently and let her cry her heart out. Bubbles covered her ears since she hates the sound of crying, and Lemon Drop stroke Bubbles' blue hair gently, like how Firefly did earlier. After a while, Glory finished fixing up the gauze on Medley's wing.

"The injury isn't as bad as I expected, and if she rests up, she'll be able to heal before the Talent Competition arrives," Glory told them, but Firefly and Medley didn't seem to pay any attention. Bubbles looked up.

"Look! The leaves are gone! I can see the sky!" Bubbles exclaimed, which stimulated the other ponies into looking up as well.

Much to their surprise, the sky is turning bright orange.

"Whoa! The sun is setting already?! Jeez! Time sure does go by fast!" Lickety-Split exclaimed.

"I say we leave now before any more trouble starts!" Moondancer said.

"I couldn't agree with you more. Come on, Medley. You can hop on my back. I'll carry you out," Starshine said. Without hesitation, Medley climbed onto Starshine's back and clung to her. All of a sudden, Lemon Drop laughed out loud.

"Hey Medley! Your hair looks funny!" Lemon Drop laughed. Medley looked up and saw that the top of her hair is standing up in the air. The other ponies began laughing as well, except for Glory, who looked quite disappointed.

"Come now! You should never laugh at other ponies for their peculiarities!" Glory scolded, but no pony paid any attention, not even Medley. In fact, Medley laughed as well.

"It must be because you were brimming with electricity earlier, Firefly," Medley said jokingly.

"Oh yeah! Ha ha! It's gonna be a while before it all wears off, and I think the forest's gonna be electrically charged for a while, so I say we make like a bee and buzz off before somepony gets turned into a wood wolf's dinner," Firefly said as she tried to straighten her hair out but failed miserably. All the ponies were about to leave until somepony called for them.

"Look! They're down there!"

All the ponies looked up to find Wind Whistler descending before them, along with another pegasus. This pegasus has pink fur like Firefly, only of a slightly paler and more faded shade. Her pale violet mane and tail are massively curly, and her eyes shone in a blue color. Basically, she looks like Firefly, only her eye and mane colors are reversed, and on her flank is a purple and blue compass rose and star. The pink pegasus is also wearing a pair of goggles as well.

"Hey! It's Wind Whistler and North Star!" Bubbles exclaimed as the two pegasi descended before them.

"There you are! We've been journeying all throughout this wretched forest for you all!" Wind Whistler exclaimed.

"We never told you we were here!" Moondancer said.

"You didn't need to. Sparkler did," The purple-haired pegasus, North Star, said with a heavy British accent.

"WHAT?! Sparkler told you?! Awww, ponyfeathers!" Lemon Drop complained and facehoofed.

"Anyway, we're glad you're safe. We better get out of here quickly before any trouble starts," North Star said.

"We better," Starshine said. Since Twilight still has her lit up helmet on, she decided to accompany Wind Whistler and North Star in leading the way for the other ponies. After a long while, the ponies finally made it out of the Forsaken Wood unscathed!

"Yay! We're finally out! Woohoo!" Lickety-Split cheered.

"I certainly hope we don't have to go through something as awful as that ever again!" Glory exclaimed, sounding a little exasperated.

"Me too!" Bubbles backed her up.

"You're back!" Fizzy's voice said. When the pony group became aware of their surroundings, they realized that Fizzy, Truly, Sparkler, Majesty, and Skydancer are in front of them. Upon laying eyes on a very guilty-looking Sparkler, Moondancer immediately threw herself in her face.

"Sparkler! I can't believe you told them!" Moondancer yelled angrily. Sparkler flinched upon receiving a scolding from Moondancer, but she was determined to tell her what really happened.

"I didn't tell them on purpose, I swear! Wind Whistler and Truly saw me in front of the Forsaken Wood and interrogated me! I tried to keep my mouth shut, but they were so persistent and refused to leave me alone!" Sparkler snapped back.

"Moondancer, you mustn't be so crass to dear Sparkler like that. I'm sure she tried her very best to keep our affair a secret, but you know how persistent Truly and Wind Whistler can be," Glory told her younger sister as calmly and politely as she could.

"I see Firefly is back with you, I presume," Majesty said with a smile. Unfortunately, Skydancer crossed her hooves and hovered in front of the pony group with a very austere and uncompromising look in her face.

"How could you all be so thoughtless and so reckless as to go into some place as dangerous as the Forsaken Wood?! You all should have known better!" Skydancer scolded angrily.

"Skydancer! Don't be mad at them! It's my fault!" Firefly cried out. "I'm the reason they went in. Medley and I got into a fight earlier and I stormed off into the forest without knowing it. They were just trying to come and get me! That's all!"

"She's right, Skydancer, and besides, we weren't gonna go in there without proper equipment!" Lickety-Split said. "Look! We brought first aid kits and blow horns and-" She wanted to say more, but Skydancer interrupted her.

"That's not the issue here, Lickety-Split! You ponies have caused a lot of trouble! Why didn't you all tell us about Firefly's disappearance?!" Skydancer snapped.

"Skydancer, please calm down!" Starshine pleaded.

"You stay out of this, Starshine!" Skydancer snapped again.

"The only reason we didn't tell you all was because we wanted to try handling it ourselves without making a bigger deal out of it than it already was! We knew the risks, and we made sure to properly prepare before going in! Besides, the rest of you had a lot on your plate already, and we didn't want to cause you all any unnecessary trouble," Glory told them as politely as she could.

"I wish I could have accompanied you so things wouldn't have gone out of hand," Majesty told her.

"I know you had good intentions, and while I do exalt the fact that you care for your friend, whether you meant to cause us trouble or not doesn't matter here! The fact of the matter is that you all DID cause trouble by not telling us and being so stupid as to go in that wretched place! You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Didn't you all stop to think about how your little trip would affect other ponies around you? Did you even think that going in there would benefit us? Well, it doesn't! You've inconvenienced us all terribly with your appallingly irrational judgment and stupidity!" Skydancer scolded sternly. Bubbles, not liking the tone of her voice, hid behind Twilight.

"You really shouldn't have worded it like that, Skydancer. They meant well! They knew what they were getting into was dangerous, and they-" North Star tried to talk to Skydancer, but the choleric, rainbow-haired yellow pegasus interrupted her.

"Don't contradict me! It's the truth!" Skydancer snapped.

"We're awful sorry, Skydancer. Really, we are," Medley whispered timidly. The rest of the ponies nodded in agreement, looking guilty. Unfortunately, Skydancer didn't see it that way.

"You don't look very sorry to me!" Skydancer yelled.

"Skydancer! You know they wouldn't lie! Why would you think they're not sorry?!" Fizzy exclaimed, appalled by Skydancer's insinuation.

"I agree with Fizzy, and you have to admit, these ponies here have proven themselves to be quite courageous and audacious for journeying into a treacherous place like the Forsaken Wood. Yes, they did choose not to tell us authoritative ponies about Firefly and did take a great risk, even if it meant putting themselves in danger. While I do agree that the ponies should be punished for throwing themselves into harm's way, they weren't trying to bring harm to anypony else. They journeyed into the noisome forest that is the Forsaken Wood because they truly cared for their friend, and any intelligent pony with even a meager dash of common sense would actually ponder about the risks and actually take the time to prepare for this trip, and that's not something a reckless pony would do. They knew the gravity of the situation, yet showed great audacity in the form of taking that risk. Yes, they didn't tell us about it, which in a way is reprehensible, but they wanted to find Firefly, bring her back, and leave the Forsaken Wood without any extraneous trouble and without causing a panic, even though that backfired. Not only that, I see nothing but veracity in their words. Why would these ponies lie about something like this? It's not like they were going in there just to push at your buttons and send you into a paroxysm of anger," Wind Whistler explained.

"Uh...did you catch all that?" Lemon Drop asked Twilight, who shook her head.

"I really don't know how Wind Whistler can talk like that and not forget all those big words," Twilight replied.

"Maybe her brain's a dictionary," Bubbles chirped happily, which made some of the ponies chuckle a bit.

"And besides, the other important thing here is that everypony's safe and sound. Right? Ain't that somethin' to be proud of?" Truly asked.

"Unfortunately, Medley's hurt because a wood wolf scratched her. If Firefly and Starshine hadn't come when they did, then we'd be in a bigger pickle!" Glory said, pointing to Medley's wing. "But Moondancer and I made sure to keep everypony in line during this trip."

"It's true, and this whole thing was my idea. If you want, I can take full responsibility for everything," Moondancer told Skydancer.

"Why everything? You didn't-" Sunbeam was about to say something, but Firefly smacked her across the neck with her wing. "OW!"

Skydancer closed her eyes and ruminated for a while, then opened them.

"Alright then. Since you all have caused us a lot of trouble, I will take the liberty of telling your parents about everything and advise them to put you all under house arrest until the day of the talent competition so you all can still participate. Do I make myself clear?" Skydancer said.

All the ponies nodded. Weirdly enough, nopony complained about it. Normally, ponies who have been threatened to be told off by their parents would whine and complain and say that it's not fair. But the ponies all knew they did something reprehensible despite their best intentions and decided to accept what came to them, even Firefly and Moondancer, who both hate being deprived of their freedom. None of the ponies wanted to anger Skydancer any further, so they decided to keep their mouths shut.

"Good. I expect you all to behave yourselves from now on. Come on, Starshine! You're coming with me!" Skydancer told her sister as she flew away. Reluctantly, Starshine decided to follow, but not before stopping before the ponies and whispering something to them.

"You guys sure showed some guts going into that forest like that. I think Skydancer should learn something from you," Starshine whispered, which made everypony laugh. With that, Starshine left them with a smile. Wind Whistler and North Star left as well. As Starshine left, Fizzy, Majesty, and Sparkler both approached the group with sympathetic eyes.

"I'm glad you guys are alright. I wish I could have been there to help you out," Fizzy told them in her sweet voice.

"Me too, but our magic isn't suited for combat," Sparkler said.

"It's quite alright. Everything turned out alright in the end after all," Twilight told them.

Moondancer sighed. "My parents are gonna hate me after this..."

"I have to admit, I'm proud of you for taking responsibility for what you did, Moondancer," Majesty said.

"Thanks, but it's not gonna do me any good," Moondancer moaned a bit.

"You shouldn't put it like that," Glory told her.

"Let's just go home. I'd rather get this done and over with than delay the inevitable," Firefly said. But before she left, she noticed Medley and flew over to her.

"Need a hoof?" Firefly extended her hoof to her injured friend. Happily, Medley took it and hopped on Firefly's back. This was a clear harbinger to all the other ponies that Firefly and Medley have made up and reconciled.

Of course, making up won't make their punishment any lighter. Skydancer, true to her word, went to the homes of all the ponies and told their parents everything, without leaving out even the smallest, most insignificant details while Starshine told them to at least praise them for being brave and at least trying to handle the situation so it wouldn't get any worse. Since Medley lived alone, the first thing she did was lay on her bed and rest as Firefly escorted her home. Medley's parents and sister visited her immediately upon hearing that she was hurt. While they were glad she was alright, she still got a mild scolding anyway, though they had to admit they were proud of her for actually taking a risk for Firefly's sake, even thinking that she's finally grown up a little. They didn't put her under house arrest like Skydancer asked because Medley's injury prevented her from going out much anyway, so they didn't find it necessary. Medley's mother decided to take the liberty of staying with her and tending to her wing until the competition. Since the competition isn't until another week and a half, it was likely Medley would get better with lots of bed rest, and that's just what she needed.

Word spread fast, and Medley could tell the town was bustling since she looked out her window. Funnily enough, through it all, she received quite a lot of visits from ponies (excluding the ones who accompanied her into the Forsaken Wood since they're still under house arrest), like Sweet Stuff, Sparkler, Truly, Fizzy, Wind Whistler, North Star, and a few other ponies. Medley felt so blessed to be having all these ponies take time out of their hectic schedules to come and see her. She could even feel her wing getting better because of them. But one particular visit made Medley feel as though she could overcome anything. Two days before the competition, Medley's mother opened the door to find a familiar face. Medley happened to be in her room, reading one of her favorite books when she heard her mother's voice.

"Medley! Your friend Bubbles is here!" Medley's mother exclaimed from down below.

"What?!" Medley yelped suddenly. _'Bubbles? She practically never goes out on her own! Especially not without Lemon Drop! And isn't she under house arrest?'_ Medley thought as she heard hoof steps coming her way. As Medley tried to regain her equanimity, the cute, slender-legged, sunny yellow pony with blue hair came into her room with eyes as bright as the sea on a very lucid, sunny day.

"Hi Medley!" Bubbles chirped in her cute voice as she walked up to Medley's bed with an innocent smile on her face.

"Hello Bubbles. Thank you for coming to see me, but...aren't you under house arrest?" Medley told her, but she couldn't help but ask why Bubbles was allowed to go out.

"They kept me in the house for four days, that's it," Bubbles said. "They said they were proud of me for going out on my own and going in the Forsaken Wood to help you all find Firefly. They said I was brave."

Medley smiled upon hearing this. "You _are_ brave, Bubbles."

Bubbles shook her head as she sat next to Medley. "No I'm not. I'm a scaredy-filly. Oh! Are you okay?"

Medley stroke her wing gently. "It's getting better, and you _are_ brave, Bubbles. You came here all by yourself, and normally you never go out on your own."

"I...I want to be brave. Like you and Firefly," Bubbles said. "I'm not a unicorn who can do magic, or a pegasus who can fly in the sky. Just a normal earth pony. I wish I was brave and strong like you, Medley. I wanted to see you and make you feel better. That's why I came. By myself. I've been to your house lots of times, so I thought I could try coming on my own without getting lost."

"Did you get lost?" Medley asked curiously.

"Nope!" Bubbles shook her head to emphasize her answer. "I did it!"

"See, Bubbles? You are brave. This is just a small step to becoming a stronger pony, and you don't need to be a pegasus or a unicorn to be brave and strong. Earth ponies have their own way of being strong. Sometimes, gifts have a way of being curses in a way. Back in the very old days, pegasi could fly, but their bones were too hollow and they had to be careful about rough-housing, and unicorns could do magic, but they had to practice continually or else the magic would overwhelm their system and cause them to die from too much magic build up. Things are different now, but Earth ponies can be special in their own way," Medley explained. "Besides, you're one of my best friends. One of the sweetest, nicest ponies around. You cheered me up when we were in the Forsaken Wood taking a break. I didn't cry out of sadness. I cried out of joy, because you cared for me despite what I did."

"You're a nice pony, and it's not good to be sad," Bubbles told her, getting the message this time. "Can I stay and play with you for a while? Lemon Drop can't play with me because her parents are very mad at her. I heard them yelling from my room."

"I'll bet that must have been unpleasant, and sure, you can keep me company if you want. But I don't know if I have anything exciting you can do here," Medley told her yellow friend.

"No worries! Just being with you is fine with me!" Bubbles chirped happily as she nuzzled Medley's face again.

Again, Medley was touched. _'Oh, Bubbles...I love how you're so blissfully innocent and yet so wise, despite being so young. I truly feel blessed to have a pony like you in my life, even if nopony else sees how wonderful you really are...'_ Medley thought. In a way, Medley and Bubbles were as close-knit as they were with Firefly and Lemon Drop, since they're both timid ponies who aren't very good at making friends, but for different reasons entirely.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask...are you going to partake in the talent contest?" Medley asked.

"Nope!" Bubbles said as she shook her head again. "I'm not good at anything, and I'm scared to perform in front of people. They'll laugh at me!"

"You're good at lots of things, Bubbles. You're good at blowing bubbles, cleaning things up, organizing, and drawing!" Medley told her.

"Ponies don't like seeing stuff like that! Lemon Drop's gonna do it instead."

"Is she going to show off her jumping skills again?"

"Yep!' Bubbles nodded this time.

The two ponies laughed together merrily. What they didn't know was that Medley's mother happened to pass by and eavesdrop on their conversation. The butter-yellow pegasus found herself growing teary-eyed and quickly fled. _'Oh Medley...look how far you've come. I'm so proud of you!'_ She thought as she left.

Bubbles wound up sticking around for quite a long time. The yellow earth pony and green pegasus played together quite a lot. They read books together, played simple games together (like board games, hide and seek, or Would You Rather), ate dinner together, blew bubbles together, talked about a great many things, big and small, together, and teased each other (like getting into txxxxx fights). Both young ponies enjoyed and cherished every minute of their time together, happy to be able to do simple things like this. Perhaps this is what true friendship is like. If only they had met as little fillies! Maybe they'd be a lot closer if they met earlier in life, especially since Bubbles is the younger of the two. At around 7:00 PM, as Medley braided Bubbles' hair, Medley's mother heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find a bulky beige earth pony with messy yellow hair with a dark orange streak in it, and on his flank is a dark blue checkbook. On his head is a brown cowboy hat. He took it off his head and tipped it to Medley's mother.

"Good evening, Rhythm. Is Bubbles here by any chance? It's getting late," The pony asked.

"Oh! Good evening! Hold on, let me go fetch her," Medley's mother, Rhythm, said as she trotted up the stairs. Medley just finished tying a light pink bow in Bubbles' braided mane.

"I love it, Medley! It's cute! Thanks!" Bubbles chirped.

"You're welcome," Medley said sweetly.

"Bubbles, dear. Your father is here to pick you up," Rhythm told her.

"Awww!" Bubbles complained. "But I wanna play some more!"

Gently, Medley stroke Bubbles' sea blue hair. "It's okay, Bubbles. We can play after the talent contest when we have time. Okay?"

Although reluctant to leave her friend, she nodded and accompanied her father back home...but not before shouting, "I hope you feel better soon!" as she left with her father.

Who knew that friendship would feel so fulfilling, especially when one was so deprived of it before? Medley loved the time she spent with Bubbles, and felt rejuvenated. She couldn't wait to get better so she could use her wings and partake in the talent contest. The day after that, Rhythm took Medley to the doctor to have her wing checked. Much to the doctor's surprise, Medley's wing is completely healed, and she can use it for flying since she's stayed off it quite a lot. That meant Medley could partake in the talent competition! But Rhythm still had her doubts, even though Medley tried to reassure her. Medley spent the rest of that day folding, stretching, and flapping her wings, but not flying with them. She didn't want to risk flying and then come crashing down, but she did try to move them as much as possible so they'd be ready for the contest.

Finally, the day of the contest arrived, and everypony gathered in the town square. Sitting in the very middle of the town square is a large stage, donned with bright orange curtains that have many yellow suns, silver moons, white stars, and blue raindrop patterns embroidered on them. Since there weren't any chairs, the ponies were expected to stand as the others prepared for the talent contest. The judges sat at a big desk covered with white table cloth, neatly arranging papers and adjusting their glasses. Medley and Rhythm walked along some less crowded parts of the square so Medley wouldn't get stuck in the crowd. She couldn't help but be awestruck by how lively it is today. Ponies talked and palavered amongst themselves, young foals played and tumbled about in the grass, and some ponies handed out snacks from their snack stands. They were about to approach the back of the stage until Rhythm stopped her, looking very worried.

"Medley, dear. If you want, you don't have to do this. You're allowed to quit if you wish," Rhythm told her kindly, but Medley gently shook her head.

"No mother. I don't want to quit. I want to do this," Medley told her mother just as kindly.

"But what if your wing gives out while you're on stage? I don't want anything bad to happen to you," Rhythm said.

"Even if it does give out, I still want to go through with the routine. I want to assist Firefly as much as I can, and I want to partake in this contest knowing that I did my absolute best. I don't want to let Firefly down," Medley replied.

"But it won't be worth it if you get hurt."

"You needn't worry, mother. I'll be fine."

"Oh? Is that Medley I see?" A lady-like, dignified voice asked from above. Medley knew it didn't belong to Glory or Majesty. But then again, she knew who the voice belonged to, and considering how it sounded, she could recognize it from a mile away.

"Hello down there, Medley!" Another voice called out, a much more childish-sounding one.

All of a sudden, two pegasi descended before Medley, looking quite merry and vivacious today. The pegasus with the polite and lady-like voice is a pale pink color, with her massively curly mane and tail both being of a darker, deeper shade, giving it a more raspberry kind of color. Her eyes are light blue, blue as the sky, lovingly brought out by her thick eyelashes, and on both sides of her flank are four pinkish red hearts, all donning a pair of little silver wings. The second pegasus is a bright, buttery shade of yellow, just like Rhythm, only her hair is yellow too, but of a darker shade and tied in a very big and thick braid with a lavender purple ribbon at the end. Her tail is plump and straight, going past her feet, her eyes are a stunning maroon color, and on both sides of her flank is a pink hot air balloon with three orange strings and surrounded by four little orange stars.

"Oh! Heart Throb and Lofty! Hello!" Medley greeted the two pegasi politely, and so did Rhythm.

"Glad you could make it, Meds!" The all yellow pegasus, Lofty, chimed happily, her braid swinging a little as she said it.

"We both heard about what happened. How have you been since then?" The pink pegasus, Heart Throb, asked politely, with a twinge of worry in her dignified voice.

"I feel great! Where's Wind Whistler?" Medley replied, then remembered that Wind Whistler isn't among them.

"She's setting up our stuff on the stage. We go up first! We call ourselves The Three Primary Colors! Y'know, I'm yellow, Wind is blue, and Heart Throb is red!" Lofty explained.

"Technically, I'm pink," Heart Throb interjected.

"Yeah, but red and white makes pink, so it still counts!" Lofty told her.

"It has a nice ring to it," Medley said with a smile. "I hope you all do well in the contest."

"Same to you!" Lofty said. "...uh, you ARE performing, right?" Lofty asked, remembering Medley's wing.

"Yes, I will be. Firefly needs me," Medley replied.

"Do you think you can handle it? It's fine if you can't. You shouldn't push yourself too hard, darling," Heart Throb told her.

"I want to do this, and even if I do fail, I'll be happy knowing that I did my best," Medley told her. Medley was about to ask them about their experiment until Bow Tie and an older unicorn came out. The unicorn is the same shade of blue as Bow Tie, only her mane and tail are yellowish green with a red streak in them, green eyes, and a white bow on both sides of her flank.

"Meds! You made it!" Bow Tie exclaimed happily.

"Hello Bow Tie and Ribbon," Medley said with a smile, greeting the unicorn, Ribbon.

"It's nice to see you, Medley. Firefly's backstage waiting for you," Ribbon told her in a nice voice.

"We better hurry, because the show's about to start!" Lofty said as she and Heart Throb flew to center stage. Rhythm gave Medley a gentle pat on the back.

"Do your best, Medley, and don't push yourself too hard," Rhythm told her. Medley nodded and happily trotted backstage. She found quite a good amount of ponies backstage either preparing or talking amongst themselves. Firefly happened to be next to Sparkler and a white earth pony with a tri-colored rainbow for a cutie mark, deep blue eyes, and a mane and tail in the following colors: light yellow, orange, aqua green, and light purple(1). Firefly immediately saw Medley and flew over to her.

"Awesome! You made it, Meds!" Firefly hugged Medley gently and high hoofed her.

"Are you ready to win?" Medley asked cheerfully.

"I was BORN ready!" Firefly thundered happily, puffing out her chest. "But are YOU ready? I don't want you to push yourself too hard."

"I most certainly am, my friend. Let's do our best together!" Medley told her pink friend with a smile.

"Hey everypony! The show is starting!" The white earth pony with the rainbow cutie mark exclaimed with a smile.

The announcer was a young, enthusiastic, ruddy-looking earth pony who started the show off with some jokes that the audience didn't quite understand, but it didn't look like he cared. The first contestants are Heart Throb, Wind Whistler, and Lofty, who performed a very complicated science experiment involving Lofty's wing power, Heart Throb's chocolate, and Wind Whistler's giant machine that creates very strong heat. Even the announcer didn't understand what they were doing. But it proved to be very interesting despite hardly anypony understanding what the heck went on. Even after the experiment was done, it took them a while to take everything off the stage. The second contestant was Lemon Drop, who performed tricks while jumping on a trampoline. Some younger unicorns put on a little magic show. Bow Tie and Ribbon worked together to make a sculpture of a pony entirely out of bows and ribbons within a 15 minute time span, and boy, did that beribboned pony look absolutely beautiful! But they were outdone by Sparkler, who made a pony entirely out of jewels and accessories, though she took more time to do so. After about a few more acts...

"Next up are contestants #15 and #16, the pegasus pair Firefly and Medley, who are going to perform an air show appropriately named the Firefly Thundersprint Medley!" The announcer edicted happily.

Firefly and Medley knew this was their cue. They looked at each other and nodded solemnly. They walked to the stage with their heads held high. Upon looking up at the lucid, cloudless blue sky, like they practiced, they ascended into the air. The two pegasi swirled around in the air, first forming an 8 shape, then flying far away from each other. As soon as they got far enough from each other, with great speed they descended to the ground, but without touching the stage floor, they met at each other's noses and quickly ascended into the air together, like two parallel lines. Once they got high enough, they swirled around each other like a tornado, then flew at each other on a near collision course. Both pegasi felt adrenaline rush through their veins, which probably increased their acceleration. Medley's wing didn't give out. She felt absolutely rejuvenated.

_'I can do this! I know I can! I...I can do it!'_ Medley thought as she found herself going faster and faster, until finally...

_BOOM!_

Everypony gasped as the two pegasi finally collided, and a huge sonic boom of flashing blue lightning bolts and glowing green musical notes filled the skies, stretching on for what could possibly be for miles on end. Everypony watched in awe as sparks flew and green musical notes floated into the sky loftily. Not only that, a flash of blue lightning trailed behind Firefly, and a green ray of emerald green light trailed behind Medley as they both zoomed over the audience, doing some loops and back flips and zig-zags. Firefly flew to the stage and began cheering.

"Yee-ha! That was fun! Wasn't it, Medley?!" Firefly cheered until she noticed that Medley was no longer flying next to her. Firefly failed to notice that before she started cheering, everypony gasped loudly, and it wasn't because of their display either.

"Meds?" Firefly looked around but didn't find her...until she looked down.

"Oh no! Meds!"

Medley's wing finally gave out, and she fell back onto the stage like an injured bird. Upon seeing this, Firefly quickly descended to the stage fast as lightning and helped her up.

"You alright? What happened!?" Firefly asked with worry in her purple eyes. Medley looked at her friend with a slightly tired look.

"It seems my wing gave out after all..." Medley whispered.

"Oh ponyfeathers!" Rhythm moaned backstage as she facehoofed. "I KNEW it would happen! I kept telling her she should have quit!"

After that, Firefly took Medley and led her backstage, since their performance ended. All of a sudden, everypony flocked over to the pegasus pair, and for different reasons.

"Yowza! You girls really electrified the audience out there!" Moondancer exclaimed happily.

"You were simply magnificent! That was quite the electrifying display!" Glory chirped.

"You really stole the show!" Twilight said.

"Congrats on finally nailing that trick!" Gusty chimed.

"Think you can do it again?" Sunbeam asked.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go on that stage! Why didn't you listen to me and quit?!" Rhythm complained.

"Sorry for saying this, but I have to agree with your mom," Lofty said. "You kinda overexerted yourself a bit, and since your wing gave out, I think your chances of winning slipped."

"I know, but at this point, I don't care about whether I win or not," Medley told them politely. "I did it with Firefly, my best friend, and that's more than enough for me."

"Oh! We're up! Come on, unicorns!" Moondancer said as she darted out on stage. Seeing that this is their cue, Glory, Sunbeam, and Majesty followed her out.

"I wonder what they'll be doing?" Lickety-Split asked.

"Let's watch and see!" The white earth pony said.

Moondancer, Sunbeam, Glory, and Majesty all stood in center stage, closing their eyes as they let the magic build up in their horns. Moondancer's horn glowed in a rosy red light. Sunbeam's horn glowed in a golden yellow color, like sunlight. Glory's horn glowed in a sea blue light, and Majesty's horn glowed in a pure white light. All of a sudden, much to the audience's surprise, the area around them began changing dramatically! Instead of being in their town, they suddenly found themselves in space! Surrounded by planets, galaxies, and about a million twinkling stars! Even the ponies backstage found themselves floating in space! But before everypony in the audience could comprehend what was happening, the scenery changed again! The space around them now changed into a winter wonderland. Trees were frozen and encased in ice. Snow covered all the land, and little snowflakes fell from the cloudy grey sky.

"I wonder if Snowflake is in the audience? I bet she'd squeal over this!" Gusty asked the white earth pony.

All of a sudden, a very high pitched voice echoed, startling quite a few audience members.

"EEEEEEEEE!"

"Yep. That's her," The white earth pony said. The unicorn quartet didn't lose their concentration or their cool. Then the scenery changed again, and everypony was now thrown into a field of beautiful, blooming flowers in multifarious colors! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, every single color you can imagine. Everypony could feel the warmth of the golden sun and smell the sweet aroma of the myriad flowers surrounding them, and they loved every minute of it. Then, the scenery kept changing. The desert, the forest, great big castles made of crystal, a field of sunflowers, a town made entirely of sweets like cake and chocolate and candy, a big castle made of clouds, and finally, the inside of an active volcano. With that, the scenery around the ponies finally changed back to their home and stage. The unicorn quartet stopped working their magic, and the glow from their horns vanished. All of a sudden, pandemonium broke out in the form of massive applauding and hoof stomps.

"Wow! That magical display was simply beautiful! I never knew those four together would be capable of such a feat!" Medley exclaimed.

"They're the most magical out of all us unicorns. That's why they're so amazing when they do their magic!" Fizzy piped in.

"I know they're going to win for sure!" Sparkler said.

"I wish I could do magic like that," Gusty grumbled.

"Were they awesome or what?!" The white earth pony asked Twilight.

"They sure were, _Triad_(1)!" Twilight piped in happily.

The final act of the competition was Skydancer doing ballet for an ancient classical music piece, and wow, did she dance beautifully! Firefly and Medley couldn't help but notice that when Skydancer dances, she looks much more peaceful, more merry, and more docile. After a few minutes, Skydancer stopped dancing, and with that, the competition ended. Then came the time to give out the awards. Some trophies sat on a table, along with many small, pale green and yellow striped bags.

"Wow! That was a mighty fine talent competition we had, and now is the time to decide the winner!" The announcer edicted. One pony gave him and envelope.

"Third place goes to...contestants numbers 15 and 16, Firefly and Medley, for their Firefly Thundersprint Medley!"

Firefly's jaw dropped to the floor and her purple eyes widened in shock. "WHAT?! _THIRD_ PLACE?!" Firefly screamed, appalled with the fact that they didn't win first prize. Medley, however, thought differently. She silently walked to the announcer and received the third place trophy with a smile.

"The judges say that while it wasn't the best feat you performed, they could tell that a lot of effort was put into it, and that you two showed genuine prowess and courage when performing it despite the danger, even if things didn't go well," The announcer said.

"Thank you," Medley thanked them politely and walked back to a very irritated Firefly, who sat on the stage with her front hooves crossed, moping because of not getting first place.

"I'm sorry we lost. It's my fault, because my wing gave out," Medley told her gently. Immediately, Firefly's angst faded away, and she looked at her friend with her purple eyes.

"Don't say it's your fault, Meds! That's not true! Sure your wing gave out, but you and I still managed to pull it off! You made it even more awesome!" Firefly exclaimed.

"I'm glad, and don't be sad about not winning. I don't mind if we got third place. I'm just happy I got to do the FSM with you, my best friend," Medley said. Firefly smiled and, admittedly, became a little teary eyed. But the announcer moved on.

"Second place goes to...contestants numbers 1, 2, and 3! The Three Primary Colors!" The announcer announced.

By The Three Primary Colors, he meant Wind Whistler, Lofty, and Heart Throb. When all three brightly colored pegasi heard their title, they beamed happily, flew over to the announcer, and accepted the second place trophy, though it must be confessed that Heart Throb whined a little.

"Awww! We didn't get first place! How utterly bothersome!" Heart Throb moaned.

"You needn't feel like you haven't accomplished anything, Heart Throb. While it is true we have been bereaved of the first prize, achieving second place is in itself a very noble accomplishment, as quite a myriad of ponies do not have the rudimentary capabilities to even come to the smallest nanometer close to achieving second place. In fact, the odds-" Wind Whistler tried to explain, but Heart Throb cut her off.

"I GET IT! Sheesh! You wonder why I don't like being around you!" Heart Throb snapped angrily, which made both Wind Whistler and Lofty quite shocked, though Lofty was more angry than shocked.

"Come on, HT! She was just trying to cheer you up! Second place isn't bad at all!" Lofty scolded, angry that Heart Throb would yell at Wind Whistler for trying to give her some encouragement.

"But I wanted to WIN! How could somepony as beautiful and dignified as I lose?!" Heart Throb complained like a spoiled princess, which made Lofty roll her eyes as Wind Whistler took the trophy and left the stage.

"Winning isn't everything, y'know..." Lofty grumbled under her breath as Heart Throb walked away.

Lemon Drop, Bow Tie, and Ribbon watched as the three pegasi left the stage. "Wow. Now I see why those two don't get along. Heart Throb's a spoiled princess who wants everything to go her way and Wind Whistler loves going off on random, big-worded tangents on anything and everything," Lemon Drop said.

"Heart Throb isn't totally snobbish. She's just a little self-centered, but she can be kind when she wants to be," Ribbon said.

Then the final moment came

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! The first prize winner of this year's National Talent Competition is..." The announcer said. Medley found a drum and decided to perform a drum roll to increase the tension, which worked. The tension increased. Everypony began whispering as a pony gave another envelope to the announcer.

Who is going to win?

The answer turned out to be...

"...Contestants numbers 17, 18, 19, and 20! The Unicorn Quartet, for their absolutely stunning and magnificent illusionary magic!"

Yes! They all heard right. Moondancer, Glory, Sunbeam, and Majesty all managed to win first prize! Moondancer jumped and cheered happily. Sunbeam began bouncing off the walls. Literally. Glory and Majesty smiled at each other and gave each other high hoofs.

"I knew it..." Gusty grumbled.

Once they calmed down, Moondancer, Sunbeam, Glory, and Majesty all accepted their big trophy.

"Everypony else gets their own little consolation prize for their participation in the talent contest. We hope everypony can participate next year!" The announcer said. Then everypony in the audience cheered and stomped their hooves happily.

"Aww," Bow Tie moaned a little. "We didn't win, and we worked so hard!"

Ribbon stroke Bow Tie's pink hair with one of her front hooves. "Don't be sad, Bow. I kind of expected we were going to lose anyway, but we can always try again next year. Besides, we did our part, and we get a little consolation prize, too. Let's see what they are," Ribbon told her reassuringly.

Firefly, Medley, and other ponies approached Moondancer to congratulate her and the others for winning. Moondancer, however, did look a little embarrassed.

"Sorry we took the first prize, Firefly. I know how much you and Meds wanted this," Moondancer told them with sad eyes.

Firefly shook her head. "That's okay. I'm over it. Besides, you and the others deserve it, and you were right, you DID shoot us down with your trick!"

Moondancer laughed a bit, then looked at Medley. "Speaking of being shot down, you're not hurt or anything, are you, Meds?" Moondancer asked with a slightly worried look in her blue eyes.

"My wing's still throbbing a bit, but I'm fine. Congratulations to you and the others for winning," Medley said with a smile.

"I'm quite surprised we managed to do what we did, and you should all feel proud for at least participating and doing your best," Majesty told them with a sweet smile. Some of the other participants came back with their consolation prize.

"Hey look! A gold medal with silver wings! How cool is this?!" Lemon Drop hopped around happily, showing off her consolation prize like it was a real trophy. The metal is made of solid gold with a horse's face carved into it, and two silver wings protruded from the sides.

"I guess the contest wasn't a total loss after all!" Bow Tie said as she put on her medal.

"I love the way it shines in the sunlight," Sparkler said as she polished hers with her hoof.

Despite not winning the competition, the majority of the ponies were happy with their accomplishments...well, not ALL of the ponies. Heart Throb and Wind Whistler are still at each other's throats despite the efforts of other ponies to break them up, and some younger ponies cried and whinnied sadly. But the end of the contest was still a celebratory time.

But it wasn't the end of the day for one pair of pegasi.

"Come on, Medley! Hurry up or we'll miss it!" Later in the night, Firefly dragged Medley out of the house. Medley didn't understand why Firefly is so excited but went with her anyway. The sky had darkened to a deep shade of blue, and the stars had not yet come out yet, but were getting close to doing so.

"Firefly! What in the world has gotten into you? Will you please tell me why you're dragging me out to the edge of the woods?" Medley asked, perturbed by Firefly's sudden excitement. No, they're not going back to the Forsaken Wood.

"I want to show you something beautiful! Oh! We're here!" Firefly said, then noticed that they've made it to the edge of the woods. The trees aren't as thick as those of the Forsaken Wood, and there's a nice little pond nearby, with lots of lily pads, closed up flowers, and weirdly-shaped rocks. Medley looked around and noticed the scenery around her is growing darker.

"Why are we here?" Medley asked again, hoping for an answer since Firefly has been too excited and too obstinate to give her one.

"Look!" Firefly shouted.

As Medley wound find out, the answer presented itself.

On a tall blade of grass, a small but piercing yellow light flashed for about a second. Then came another flash from another part of the pond. Then many more.

Both Medley and her pink friend knew what these beautiful yet fleeting lights were the minute they saw the first flash.

"...Fireflies?" Medley asked with wonder, watching as one little lightning bug flew around them.

"Yep. Isn't it beautiful?" Firefly asked as she saw a firefly land in her hair and light up.

Soon, many little yellow lights enveloped the entire edge of the woods. Medley extended one of her hooves out and watched with awe as she saw a firefly land in her hoof and glow in the same sunny yellow light as its myriad friends did. The two pegasi watched with wonder as the light of the fireflies enveloped them and made them feel warm and like they had entered a new world. It was one of the most beautiful things they had ever seen.

"...I was born here," Firefly suddenly whispered out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Medley asked, shocked with what she just heard. "You were? I always thought you were born in the clouds, like I was."

"I never told you, did I?" Firefly said wistfully as she let the firefly in her hair fly back to it's friends. "My parents came here on vacation once, when I was still in my mom's belly. A couple days before they had to leave, they came here, and she wound up going into labor. The ambulance didn't make it in time, so I wound up being born before the paramedics could arrive. But night fell, and the fireflies popped out, just like they're doing right now. Mom told me that I woke up in her arms and the first thing I opened my eyes to was a little firefly that glowed on my hoof. That's when Mom and Dad decided to name me Firefly, in honor of that moment. Since then, every year on my birthday, Mom and Dad would take me here and let me watch the fireflies for as long as the night went on. I know today's not my birthday and all, but..." Firefly looked Medley in the eyes when she said this, and oh, was she solemn. "I really wanted to show this to you, and I feel tonight's just the right time to do so, now that we've made up and all."

Medley was not only amazed by the beauty of the myriad firefly lights, but the fact that she's learned something new about her friend, something she never expected. But she didn't mind. In fact, she loved finding out that Firefly's name has very special meaning behind it and learning the story of her birth.

"I want to thank you...for being my friend, and I thought this was the perfect way to do it, since I know you like fireflies and all," Firefly said.

Gently, Medley hugged Firefly. She didn't know that a firefly nested itself into one of the many clumps in her green mane.

"No. Thank YOU, Firefly...for being my friend," Medley said softly in a whisper.

Yes, both pegasi felt very blessed to be friends, but that night they felt themselves be pulled closer.

Their friendship blossomed further when they came to the forest of firefly light.

Footnotes:

1. For those of you who have seen the first My Little Pony special, Rescue from Midnight Castle, did any of you notice there was a white earth pony with a rainbow for a cutie mark and a cat on her back? Well, she doesn't have a toy released, nor does she have an official name. I have decided to rectify this and give her a name, which will henceforth be Triad since her cutie mark is a tri-colored rainbow.


End file.
